May 02, 2016
The Food and Drug Administration has for the first time approved a drug to treat psychosis related to Parkinson's disease, Reuters reported.
The drug, Nuplazid -- which was approved Friday -- will come with a strict black-box warning on the label because of the potential for serious side effects, including an increased risk of death. It is expected to cost $13,500 per patient annually.
Out of the about one million Parkinson's disease patients in the U.S., almost 4 out of 10 experience hallucinations and delusions.
Doctors previously treated these symptoms with other antipsychotic drugs that target production of the chemical dopamine in the brain. Nuplazid, instead, will target a neural receptor called 5HT2A.
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