The Journal of Mental Health Policy and EconomicsJ Ment Health Policy Econ 7, 77-85 (2004)
Should Clozapine Continue to be Restricted to
Philip S. Wang,1* David A. Ganz,2 Joshua S. Benner,3 Robert J. Glynn,4 Jerry Avorn5
1MD, DrPH, Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine,
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
2MD, MPH, Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine,
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
3PharmD, ScD, Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine,
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
4PhD, ScD, Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine,
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
5MD, Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine,
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
treatments for treatment-sensitive as well as treatment-resistantschizophrenia.
Background: Clozapine is currently restricted to patients who have
Received 28 April 2003; accepted 4 April 2004
failed at least two trials of other antipsychotic medications becauseof concerns that its use as a first–line agent would lead to greatermortality, mainly through agranulocytosis. Aims of the Study: We sought to determine the cost-effectivenessof allowing clozapine to be a first-line treatment versus the current
policy of restricting clozapine to third-line status. Methods: We performed a cost-effectiveness analysis usingpublished data from randomized controlled trials and epidemiologic
In 1989, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
studies. The target population was patients with schizophrenia in an
approved clozapine as a treatment for schizophrenia.
acute psychotic episode, with a lifetime time horizon and societal
However, the FDA restricted clozapine to third-line status,
perspective. Outcome measures included life expectancy, quality-
only allowing it to be used after a patient has failed at least
adjusted life expectancy, costs, and cost-effectiveness ratios.
two different antipsychotic medications for lack of response
Results: Using clozapine as a first agent would lead to modest gains
or intolerable side effects.1-3 This restriction of clozapine to
in life-expectancy as well as quality-adjusted life expectancy,
use in treatment-resistant patients arose out of concern that if
relative to restricting its use to patients who failed 2 conventionalantipsychotics. The cost-effectiveness ratio of using clozapine first
clozapine were used as a first-line agent, it would lead to
vs. using clozapine third would be $24,100 per quality-adjusted life
increased mortality. In pre-marketing studies clozapine was
year (QALY). In 1-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses, these
found to cause potentially fatal agranulocytosis in
findings were robust to a variety of assumptions.
approximately 1% of patients.4,5 Because this risk was
Discussion: Allowing clozapine to be a first-line agent may lead to
reversible if detected early, weekly monitoring of patients’
small gains in life expectancy at moderate but acceptable costs.
white blood cell counts was required;5 this further added to
Implications: While these results do not shed light on whether
the cost associated with clozapine treatment, which already
clozapine should be the preferred first-line strategy, they do suggest
greatly exceeded that of conventional antipsychotic therapy
that clozapine should be added to the armamentarium of possible
due to higher drug costs.6 Restricting clozapine to treatment-resistant patients was also supported by the fact that earlyclinical trials showing greater efficacy for clozapine vs.
* Correspondence to: Philip Wang, M.D., Dr.P.H., Division of
conventional antipsychotics were conducted mainly in
Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Brigham and Women’s
Hospital, 1620 Tremont Street, Suite 3030 Boston, MA 02120, USATel.: +1-617-278 0930
However, in the decade since this restriction on clozapine
to third-line status was imposed, much additional evidence
has emerged concerning its risks and benefits. A recent meta-
Source of Funding: Financial support for this study was provided entirely
analysis8 and other randomized trials9 conducted among
by a Research Career Award from the National Institute of Mental Health
treatment-sensitive as well as treatment-resistant patients
(K01-MH0165 to Wang). No pharmaceutical company was involved in anyway in the initiation, conduct, or support of this research.
have found that clozapine is significantly more likely than
Psychosis Tardive Dyskinesia Recovered From Psychosis Agranulocytosis
Figure 1. Schematic Diagram of the Markov Model.
Note: Figure 1 presents a schematic diagram of the Markov model used in this analysis. Health states are in ovals. Arrows represent allowed transitions. Atinception all patients start in the psychosis state. From there, patients can remain psychotic, recover from their psychotic episode, go on to have intolerable sideeffects (i.e., tardive dyskinesia if on a conventional antipsychotic or agranulocytosis if on clozapine), or die.
conventional antipsychotics to improve psychotic episodes
dyskinesia.11 Clozapine use has also been associated with
and prevent relapse. More recent data from the Clozaril
lower rates of suicide attempts and completed suicides.12-15
National Registry in the U.S. has also shown that the
Generic forms of clozapine have now become available,
incidence of agranulocytosis on clozapine, and fatality
resulting from it, are substantially lower than originally
This evidence suggesting greater benefits and potentially
feared.10 This has led the FDA to relax its requirement for
lower risks and costs for clozapine has led to the question of
weekly white blood cell (WBC) monitoring, somewhat
whether the indications for clozapine should be expanded to
reducing the costs associated with clozapine therapy.
include use as a possible first-line agent in treatment-
Clozapine has been shown to be relatively free of the
sensitive patients.14,17 Unfortunately, formal analyses of this
extrapyramidal side effects associated with conventional
question are lacking. Cost-effectiveness analyses performed
antipsychotics, and in fact may be a treatment for tardive
to date have generally been limited to comparisons of
J Ment Health Policy Econ 7, 77-85 (2004)
clozapine vs. conventional antipsychotics among exclusively
By contrast, the clozapine-first strategy consisted of the
treatment-resistant populations.18-29 These have consistently
shown clozapine to have favorable cost-effectiveness ratios
Our first aim was to assess whether clozapine should be a
antipsychotics if the patient fails to recover to the point
possible first-line treatment for schizophrenia, relative to
of being dischargeable from the hospital, or relapses
restricting clozapine for only patients who have failed two
trials of other antipsychotics. Using data from randomized
controlled trials and epidemiologic studies, we modeled theclinical and economic outcomes of these two strategies in a
We also examined a third strategy that consisted of using
hypothetical cohort of patients with schizophrenia
only conventional antipsychotics (i.e., never using clozapine
undergoing an acute psychotic episode. Because clozapine is
even in treatment-resistant patients). We employed this
currently underutilized even among treatment-resistant
conventional antipsychotic only strategy in subanalyses to
patients,30 we also compared strategies using clozapine to the
estimate the cost-effectiveness of strategies using clozapine
in mental health care systems which do not utilize clozapine
Finally, it is important to distinguish these aims from a
and offer only conventional antipsychotics to treatment-
question regarding clozapine that this study was not designed
to answer. Newer atypical antipsychotics (e.g., risperidone,
We then developed a Markov model35 of transitional
olanzapine, and quetiapine) are now widely available and
probabilities in which patients could occupy one of seven
used,31 raising the question of whether these newer agents or
types of health states: acute psychosis while taking
clozapine should be the preferred first-line treatment in
clozapine, acute psychosis while taking conventional
schizophrenia. Trials completed to date indicate the
antipsychotic, recovered with clozapine, recovered with
possibility that clozapine may have greater efficacy.15,32
conventional antipsychotic, serious TD with conventional
However, definitively answering what should be the
antipsychotic, agranulocytosis with clozapine, or dead. We
preferred first-line treatment will have to wait until sufficient
then conducted a cohort simulation to track transitions
head-to-head trials comparing clozapine to newer atypical
between states representing the expected clinical and
antipsychotics in treatment-sensitive patients, such as the
economic effects in patients hypothetically randomized to
recent InterSePT trial,15 are completed.
one of the three antipsychotic strategies (see Figure 1). Acycle length of 3 months was used. We adopted the societalperspective in our analysis. The model was constructed using
the DATA 3.5 decision analysis program (TreeAgeSoftware; Williamstown, MA).
Each state of the model has a mortality rate associated with it,
We developed a computer model based on all available data
which in turn determines the probability of death in any
from the clinical literature to estimate the outcomes of three
given cycle (see Table 1). The mortality hazard for each state
treatment strategies in a hypothetical 30-year old patient with
was calculated by combining the effects of suicide while on a
schizophrenia hospitalized with an acute psychotic episode
specific antipsychotic regimen, death by agranulocytosis
(30 years of age was chosen, rather than younger, to
while on clozapine, and age-adjusted all-cause mortality rates
accommodate the later ages of onset in women)33,34. The
from U.S. life tables.36 To reproduce the life-expectancies
clozapine-third strategy described the likely outcomes of
observed in published record linkage studies of treated
using clozapine only after a patient had failed 2 trials of
schizophrenia patients,37 we multiplied age-adjusted all-
conventional antipsychotics; it consisted of the following:
cause mortality rates in U.S. life tables by a factor of four. We modeled death due to suicide or agranulocytosis as
initiating treatment with a conventional antipsychotic;
additive effects to age-adjusted mortality. The rate of death
(ii) switching to a second conventional antipsychotic if the
by suicide while on conventional antipsychotics was derived
patient fails to recover to the point of being
from published record-linkage data for treated patients with
dischargeable from the hospital, or relapses after
schizophrenia.37 The rate of death by suicide while taking
recovery, or develops serious tardive dyskinesia (TD)
clozapine was obtained from registry data on the cumulative
incidence of suicide among 51,333 patients.13 The rate of
(iii) following this, switching to clozapine if the patient fails
death from agranulocytosis while taking clozapine was
to recover to the point of being dischargeable from the
obtained from Clozaril National Registry data from 1990-
hospital, or relapses after recovery, or develops serious
1994.10 For sensitivity analyses, we used the upper and lower
TD on the second conventional antipsychotic;
bounds of the 95% confidence interval around the estimates
(iv) switching back to a conventional antipsychotic if the
of the rates of death by suicide and agranulocytosis.
patient fails to recover to the point of being
Data on the effectiveness of clozapine vs. conventional
dischargeable from the hospital, or relapses after
antipsychotics in treatment-sensitive and treatment-resistant
recovery, or develops agranulocytosis on clozapine.
patients with schizophrenia were obtained from a recent
SHOULD CLOZAPINE CONTINUE TO BE RESTRICTED TO THIRD-LINE STATUS?
J Ment Health Policy Econ 7, 77-85 (2004)
Table 1. Assumptions Governing Transition Probabilities, Costs, and Utilities for the Markov Model
3-Month Probabilites on Conventional Antipsychotic
Quality Weights Assigned to Health States
meta-analysis of all data from randomized controlled trials.8
upper and lower bounds of the 95% confidence interval
To estimate the probability of recovery from psychosis under
(C.I.) around each estimate of effectiveness from the meta-
different regimens, we used data on the end point of
analysis were used in sensitivity analyses of the probabilities
dischargeability from the hospital at the end of short-term
of recovery and relapse. We conservatively used only the
trials. Although clozapine demonstrated greater effectiveness
probability of developing the most serious extrapyramidal
on the endpoint of clinical improvement (based on change in
symptoms such as TD,38 without considering the
symptom severity rating scores), we used dischargeability
probabilities of developing other extrapyramidal symptoms
from the hospital because it may be a better proxy for
such as Parkinsonism, dystonias, or akathisia.
clinically meaningful improvement, and is likely to produce
In estimating the proportion of recovered patients who
a more conservative estimate of the relative effectiveness of
would relapse within 3 months if their antipsychotic was
withdrawn due to side effects, we used a published
The meta-analysis was also the source of data on the short-
estimate39; its 95% CI was used in sensitivity analyses.
antipsychotics to prevent relapse of recovered patients.8 The
J Ment Health Policy Econ 7, 77-85 (2004)
The 3-month cost of WBC monitoring was based on a
To measure the health effects of strategies, we started by
published estimate for weekly WBC testing.6 Weekly WBC
recording the unadjusted life expectancies (i.e., life years)
testing was assumed rather than the currently recommended
associated with each (see Table 1). We then calculated our
monitoring strategy because our estimates of the occurrence
main measure of the health effects of each strategy in terms
and fatality from agranulocytosis derive from a time when
of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). QALYs are
weekly WBC testing was required. This assumption also
calculated by multiplying the life years spent in specific
creates a more conservative estimate of the cost of the
health states by the quality of life weights associated with
clozapine-first strategy if agranulocytosis is equally well
those states. We used published quality-of-life weights for
detected by WBC monitoring every two weeks. The cost of
the health states in schizophrenia, derived from standard
treating agranulocytosis is based on published estimates and
gambles, rating scales, and paired comparison questions40
(see Table 1 for the actual quality weights assigned to health
In an attempt to manage TD, clinicians frequently try
states). The decrement in quality of life assigned to TD was
pharmacologic treatments which may or may not be
estimated from standard gambles and rating scales carried
successful;43 a cost for 3 months of pharmacologic treatment
out among patients with schizophrenia.25 Since no quality of
(e.g., benztropine) was assigned to those who developed TD
life weight for agranulocytosis has been calculated, we
as a result of conventional antipsychotic use.46
employed values assigned to severe infection while
To define a range for the sensitivity analyses of each cost
immunosuppressed from cancer chemotherapy;41 to the
estimate, we subtracted 25% of the cost for the lower bound
extent that agranulocytosis is a less serious clinical condition,
this biased our results against the clozapine-first strategy. To
define a range for sensitivity analyses, we subtracted 25% to
In addition to conducting sensitivity analyses on individual
estimate a lower bound and added 25% for the upper bound.
variables, we used Monte Carlo simulation to vary transition
We also conducted a sensitivity analysis in which health
probabilities, costs, and utilities simultaneously.47 A
states were not adjusted for such quality-of-life differences.
probability distribution was created for each variable on the
basis of the 95% CI or other range used in 1-way sensitivityanalyses described above. New values from each probability
In the base case, we included the following direct medical
distribution were randomly selected during each of 1000
costs for each strategy (see below for sources): hospitalization
iterations, and cost and effectiveness of each strategy were
for psychotic episodes, outpatient care, residential treatment
costs, and antipsychotic medication costs (see Table 1). To beconservative, we assigned to clozapine users who developed
agranulocytosis the expense of hospitalization for this
We discounted all costs and health effects at an annual rate of
condition. All clozapine users also were assigned a weekly
3% for the base case, with sensitivity analyses performed
cost for WBC monitoring. Conventional antipsychotic users
who developed serious TD experienced the cost ofpharmacologic treatment for this side effect. We inflated allcosts to 1999 U.S. dollars using the medical care component
To calculate drug costs, our base case assumed that
clozapine users took 425 milligrams daily while conventionalantipsychotic users took 15 mg of haloperidol daily; these
For 30-year-old patients with schizophrenia, the undiscounted
dosages were chosen because they correspond to the median
annual costs under the clozapine-first, the clozapine-third, and
of recommended therapeutic dose ranges.1,2,43 We calculated
the conventional antipsychotics only strategies were $26,650,
the costs of the drugs based on the average wholesale price
$26,640, and $26,530, respectively. The undiscounted life
of generic clozapine and generic haloperidol.16
expectancies under these three strategies were 31.03, 31.01,
Psychiatric hospitalization costs are for a stay of mean
length (23 day) and based on the average cost for all stays in
After discounting at 3% annually, the total discounted costs
inpatient mental health settings in the U.S. as identified by
for the clozapine-first, clozapine-third, and conventional
the Inventory of Mental Health Organizations and General
antipsychotic only strategies were $514,100, $513,800, and
Hospital Mental Health Services.44 Three-month outpatient
$509,200, respectively (see Table 2, column 1). After
and residential treatment costs were obtained by first
discounting and quality-adjusting for time spent in each
calculating the average number of units of treatments and
health state, the three strategies yielded 14.59, 14.58, and
services used by patients with schizophrenia followed for a
14.51 discounted quality-adjusted life years (QALYs)(see
2-year period;21 average numbers of units were then
multiplied by median costs per unit identified from
Thus under base case assumptions, our main finding is that
psychiatric records and administrative (Medicaid) data.23
the hypothetical strategy of using clozapine first versus the
Hospitalized patients were assigned outpatient and residential
currently approved strategy of using clozapine third, would
treatment costs for the proportion of 3-month cycles during
cost $24,100 per additional QALY gained (see Table 2,
column 3). Results of our subanalyses exploring the cost-
SHOULD CLOZAPINE CONTINUE TO BE RESTRICTED TO THIRD-LINE STATUS?
J Ment Health Policy Econ 7, 77-85 (2004)
effectiveness of strategies in settings where the current care
failure, and relapse on clozapine, as well as freedom from
involves only the use of conventional agents, even for
extrapyramidal side effects. These benefits outweigh the rare
treatment-resistant patients, are shown in Table 2, column 4.
adverse consequences caused by agranulocytosis. The gains
The clozapine-first vs. conventional only strategy would cost
seen in quality-adjusted life expectancy are obtained at the
$58,000/QALY; the clozapine-third vs. conventional only
acceptable costs of $24,100/QALY. This cost-effectiveness
ratio is comparable to the ratios for many other commonlyaccepted medical interventions.48 In health care systems
where clozapine is currently never used even for treatment-resistant patients, employing it as a first-line agent also
appears to lead to modest gains in QALYs at a fairly
In one-way sensitivity analyses (see Table 3), the cost-
effectiveness ratio comparing clozapine-first vs. clozapine-
In all sensitivity analyses, using clozapine first continued
third strategies was most sensitive to estimates of the rate of
to result in slightly higher quality-adjusted life expectancy
recovery from acute psychotic episodes on conventional
when compared to using clozapine only after failure of two
antipsychotics and on clozapine; assigning the value most
conventional agents. The cost-effectiveness ratio of the
unfavorable to the clozapine-first strategy for either of these
clozapine-first vs. the clozapine-third strategy was most
yielded ratios over $30,000/QALY. The analysis was also
sensitive to estimates of the efficacy of clozapine and
sensitive to the quality of life weight assigned to being
conventional antipsychotics in producing recovery from
recovered from psychosis, rates of TD on conventional
acute psychotic episodes. For this reason, it is noteworthy
antipsychotics, the cost of clozapine, the cost of inpatient
that we used dischargeability from the hospital as our
hospitalizations, the discount rate, relapse rates on clozapine
measure of recovery,8 rather than improvement in symptom
and conventional antipsychotics, and the cost of residential
severity as in earlier studies.18-29 Using this endpoint
treatment, in descending order. The cost-effectiveness ratio
underestimates the advantage of clozapine over conventional
was relatively insensitive to all remaining variables.
antipsychotics because it does not account for the greaterfrequency of partial improvements observed for clozapine vs.
When transition probabilities, costs, and utilities were
The analysis was also sensitive to the quality of life weight
allowed to vary simultaneously in the Monte Carlo
assigned to recovery from psychosis. We conservatively
simulation, the 25,th 50,th and 75th percentiles of the cost-
assumed that recovery from psychosis led to the same
effectiveness ratio of the clozapine-first compared with the
quality-of-life with either clozapine or conventional
clozapine-third strategy were $16,700, $23,500, and $31,100
antipsychotics, even though other investigators have found
greater preferences in standard gambles25 as well as higherpatient satisfaction ratings8 for clozapine as compared withconventional agents.
The probability of developing TD on conventional
antipsychotics was another important parameter. Again, it is
The FDA originally restricted clozapine use to only patients
important to point out that we conservatively modeled TD to
who failed two other antipsychotics, out of concern that
be a temporary condition lasting only 3 months rather than as
using clozapine as a first-line agent would lead to greater loss
the chronic form often encountered in clinical practice; in
of life, largely through death from agranulocytosis.1-5
addition, we conservatively only considered tardive
Contrary to this view, we found that employing clozapine as
dyskinesia but not other extrapyramidal side effects from
a first-line agent was no more hazardous and may actually
lead to small gains in life expectancy and quality-adjusted
symptoms, dystonias or akathisia.11,39,43,49 Both assumptions
life expectancy relative to waiting for two failures. This
are likely to have biased our results against the clozapine-
results from decreased likelihoods of suicide, treatment
J Ment Health Policy Econ 7, 77-85 (2004)
Table 3. One-Way Sensitivity Analyses of the Most Influential Parameters on the Cost-
Effectiveness Ratio Comparing Clozapine-First to Clozapine-Third Strategies
Prob. Recovering On Conventional Antipsychotic (%)
Prob. TD on Conventional Antipsychotic (%)
Cost of Inpatient Psychiatric Hospitalization ($)
Prob. Relapse on Conventional Antipsychotic (%)
The fact that the model’s results varied with the cost of
atypical antipsychotic olanzapine rather than conventional
clozapine is also important in light of clozapine’s recent
neuroleptics).15 Furthermore, our sensitivity analyses
patent expiration and the availability of generic products.
indicate that the decision to use clozapine as a first-line agent
The price of generic clozapine has been declining and should
does not depend critically on a benefit on suicide for
continue to come down in the future, potentially making the
use of clozapine as a first-line agent more economical. We
Second, even estimates drawn from randomized clinical
also assumed weekly WBC monitoring for clozapine in our
trials may have limited internal and external validity. For
base case analysis, rather than the current practice of
example, medication non-compliance in clinical trials can
monitoring every 2 weeks after 6 months. All of these
attenuate the apparent efficacy of antipsychotic medications
assumptions are likely to have biased our results against the
and affect cost-effectiveness analyses in unpredictable
ways.51 Furthermore, any attenuation due to non-compliance
To our knowledge, this is the first study to quantitatively
may have been differential between clozapine vs.
compare the strategy of using clozapine as a first-line agent
conventional antipsychotics, because weekly WBC
to the current strategy of restricting clozapine use to only
monitoring required of clozapine patients may enhance
those who have failed at least two trials of other
compliance. Non-compliance with WBC monitoring could
antipsychotics. Prior analyses have generally compared the
itself lower costs and effectiveness of clozapine regimens;
the net impact on cost-effectiveness ratios, while uncertain,
antipsychotics for the treatment of patients with exclusively
may be lessened by recent reductions in FDA monitoring
treatment-resistant schizophrenia. While these have
requirements. The generalizability of estimates from clinical
consistently shown that clozapine is cost-effective for
trials to ‘‘real-world’’ practice is also unknown, due to the
treatment-resistant patients,18-29 they have not addressed the
greater likelihood of non-compliance in typical settings.
larger question of managing treatment-sensitive as well as
Third, to avoid ‘‘state explosion’’, the model does not
completely describe the range of health states that could be
These results have some limitations. First, some estimates
experienced by patients with schizophrenia. For example,
were drawn from observational studies, introducing the
clozapine and conventional antipsychotic users can
possibility of confounding bias. For example, we used
experience other side effects from their medications that were
observational data12-14 to estimate the suicide rates on
not modeled as health states in our analyses.43 However, our
clozapine and conventional neuroleptics because sample
model does capture those side-effects that have been clearly
sizes in clinical trials or even meta-analyses were too small to
established and are most burdensome (due to their
generate stable estimates. Such estimates could be
prevalence and clinical seriousness). Furthermore, we
confounded by the fact that current clozapine users (who had
conservatively did not model several potential benefits of
to comply with weekly WBC monitoring to receive the
clozapine, including improvements in: psychotic symptom
drug), may be in a more stable clinical phase than either past
severity that may be clinically important but not enough to
users or non-users.50 However, one recent randomized trial
lead to discharge from the hospital;8 cognitive function;52
found significantly reduced suicidal behavior among
clozapine users (although it compared clozapine to the newer
SHOULD CLOZAPINE CONTINUE TO BE RESTRICTED TO THIRD-LINE STATUS?
J Ment Health Policy Econ 7, 77-85 (2004)
Fourth, it was not possible to construct 95% confidence
7. Kane J, Honigfeld G, Singer J, Meltzer H. Clozaril Collaborative Study
intervals for some of our parameter estimates due to the lack
Group. Clozapine for the treatment-resistant schizophrenic: a double-blind comparison with chlorpromazine. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1988; 45:
of information on their underlying variability. While we
relied on conventions commonly employed under such
8. Wahlbeck K, Cheine M, Essali A, Adams C. Evidence of clozapine’s
circumstances (e.g., adding and subtracting 25% of base case
effectiveness in schizophrenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of
estimates) to construct ranges for sensitivity analyses, we do
randomized trials. Am J Psychiatry 1999; 156: 990-999.
not know how such ranges would relate to true 95%
9. Lieberman JA, Phillips M, Gu H, Stroup S, Zhang P, Kong L, Ji Z, Koch
G, Hamer RM. Atypical and conventional antipsychotic drugs in
confidence limits. Furthermore, while our Markov model
treatment-naı¨ve first episode schizophrenia: a 52-week randomized trial
assumes constancy in parameter estimates, it is possible (but
of clozapine vs. chlorpromazine. Neuropsychopharmacology 2003; 28:
unknown) that transition probabilities, costs, and utilities
change with time and the occurrence of clinical events. We
10. Honigfeld G, Arellano F, Sethi J, Bianchini A, Schein J. Reducing
believe the ranges employed in sensitivity analyses are
clozapine-related morbidity and mortality: 5 years of experience with theClozaril National Registry. J Clin Psychiatry 1998; 59(suppl 3): 3-7.
sufficiently broad to contain the average in parameters
11. Lieberman JA, Saltz BL, Johns CA, Pollack S, Borenstein M, Kane J.
experienced over the time horizon, however we cannot be
The effects of clozapine on tardive dyskinesia. Br J Psychiatry 1991;
Finally, clinicians and patients still face a critically
12. Walker AM, Lanza LL, Arellano F, Rothman KJ. Mortality in current
and former users of clozapine. Epidemiology 1997; 8: 671-677.
important question about clozapine that this study cannot
13. Meltzer HY, Fatemi H. Suicide in schizophrenia: the effect of clozapine.
answer: what should the preferred first-line treatment be in
Clin Neuropharmacol 1995; 18: S18-S24.
schizophrenia? This question has become more pressing as
14. Meltzer HY, Okayli G. Reduction of suicidality during clozapine
newer atypical agents become widely available and used.31
treatment of neuroleptic-resistant schizophrenia: impact on risk-benefit
Unfortunately, we were unable to answer this question
assessment. Am J Psychiatry 1995; 152: 183-190.
15. Meltzer HY, Alphs L, Green AI, Altamura A, Anand R, Bertoldi A,
because there are insufficient head-to-head trials comparing
Chouinard G, Islam MZ, Kane J, Krishnan R, Lindenmayer JP, Potkin S.
clozapine to newer atypical antipsychotics in treatment-
Clozapine treatment for suicidality in schizophrenia: International
sensitive patients.54-56 Trials completed to date leave open
Suicide Prevention Trial (InterSePT). Arch Gen Psychiatry 2003; 60: 82-
the possibility that clozapine may possess superior efficacy
16. Drug Topics Red Book. Medical Economics Company, Montvale, NJ.
on several important clinical outcomes.15,32 Clearly,
additional data from large trials comparing clozapine to
17. Meltzer HY. Suicide in schizophrenia: risk factors and clozapine
newer atypical agents in treatment sensitive patients are
treatment. J Clin Psychiatry. 1998; 59 (Suppl 3): 15-20.
needed in the future. With publication of such results, the
18. Rosenheck R, Cramer J, Xu W, Thomas J, Henderson W, Frisman L,
structure of the present analysis can be updated to shed light
Fye C, Charney D. A comparison of clozapine and haloperidol inhospitalized patients with refractory schizophrenia. N Engl J Med 1997;
on this critically important question.
In summary, we found that using clozapine as a first-line
19. Rosenheck R, Cramer J, Allan E, Erdos J, Frisman LK, Xu W, Thomas J,
agent vs. as a third-line agent, rather than leading to loss of
Henderson W, Charney D. Cost-effectiveness of clozapine in patients
life, actually leads to small gains in life-expectancy and
with high and low levels of hospital use. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1999; 56:565-572.
quality-adjusted life-expectancy at the acceptable cost of
20. Rosenheck R, Cramer J, Xu W, Grabowski J, Douyon R. Thomas J,
$24,100/QALY. While results from this study do not shed
Henderson W, Charney D. Multiple outcome assessment in a study of
light on whether clozapine should be the preferred first-line
the cost-effectiveness of clozapine in the treatment of refractory
strategy, they do suggest that clozapine should not
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necessarily be confined to its role as a third-line agent. Both
21. Meltzer HY, Cola P, Way L, Thompson PA, Bastani B, Davies MA,
Snitz B. Cost effectiveness of clozapine in neuroleptic-resistant
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SHOULD CLOZAPINE CONTINUE TO BE RESTRICTED TO THIRD-LINE STATUS?
J Ment Health Policy Econ 7, 77-85 (2004)
In his “A New Program for Philosophy of Science?”, Ronald Giere expresses qualmsregarding the critical and political projects I advocate for philosophy of science—thatthe critical project assumes an underdetermination absent from actual science, and thepolitical project takes us outside the professional pursuit of philosophy of science. Inreply I contend that the underdetermination the criti
Revista de Literaturas Modernas Número 35 (2005) YERMA . POR QUÉ POEMA TRÁGICO Y NO TRAGEDIA POÉTICA María Cristina Salatino de Zubiría Ante las frecuentes afirmaciones que, atendiendo a las características del discurso, presentan al teatro de García Lorca como "poético", considero opor-tuno destacar la preeminencia de lo lírico sobre lo escénico en Yerma