Antipsychotic Drugs, Atypical
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Definition
The atypical antipsychotic agents, sometimes called the "novel" antipsychotic agents are a group of drugs which are different chemically from the older drugs used to treat psychosis. The "conventional" antipsychotic drugs are classified by their chemical structures as the phenothiazines, thioxanthines (which are chemically very similar to the phenothiazines), butyrophenones, diphenylbutylpiperadines and the indolones. All of the atypical antipsychotic agents are chemically classified as dibenzepines. They are considered atypical or novel because they have different side effects from the conventional antipsychotic agents. The atypical drugs are far less likely to cause extra-pyrammidal side-effects (EPS), drug induced involuntary movements, than are the older drugs. The atypical antipsychotic drugs may also be effective in some cases that are resistant to older drugs.
The drugs in this group are clozapine (Clozaril), loxapine (Loxitane), olanzapine (Zyprexa), and quetiapine (Seroquel).
— Samuel David Uretsky, PharmD
