Metiapine is a

typical antipsychotic Typical antipsychotics (also known as major tranquilizers, and first generation antipsychotics) are a class of antipsychotic drugs first developed in the 1950s and used to treat psychosis (in particular, schizophrenia). Typical antipsychotics ma ...

medication of the

dibenzothiazepine Dibenzothiazepines are chemical compounds which are derivatives of thiazepine with two benzene rings. Examples include quetiapine, tianeptine Tianeptine, sold under the brand names Stablon and Coaxil among others, is an atypical antidepressa ...

group. There is scarce research on the safety and efficacy of metiapine in humans, though limited human trials exist.

Medical uses

Metiapine has been investigated for the treatment of

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

Side effects

Like other typical antipsychotics, it has a high rate of extrapyramidal side effects.

Pharmacology

Metiapine has strong

antidopaminergic A dopamine antagonist, also known as an anti-dopaminergic and a dopamine receptor antagonist (DRA), is a type of drug which blocks dopamine receptors by receptor antagonism. Most antipsychotics are dopamine antagonists, and as such they have ...

effects and is classified as a typical (i.e., first-generation) antipsychotic.

Chemistry

Metiapine is a

derivative In mathematics, the derivative of a function of a real variable measures the sensitivity to change of the function value (output value) with respect to a change in its argument (input value). Derivatives are a fundamental tool of calculus. ...

. Like clothiapine, metiapine has a sulfur atom replacing the

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

atom found in dibenzapine derivative antipsychotics like

clozapine Clozapine is a psychiatric medication and is the first atypical antipsychotic (also called second-generation antipsychotic). It is primarily used to treat people with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders who have had an inadequate respo ...

Synthesis

Metiapine can be synthesized through the following mechanism: Metiapine Synthesis

History

Metiapine was first discovered in the 1970s by

Marion Merrell Dow Marion Merrell Dow and its predecessor Marion Laboratories was a U.S. pharmaceutical company based in Kansas City, Missouri from 1950 until 1996. The company specialized in bringing to market drugs that had been discovered but unmarketed by other ...

(now a part of

Sanofi Sanofi S.A. is a French multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. Originally, the corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 2004, Sanofi-Syn ...

Research

A 2017

Cochrane Review Cochrane (previously known as the Cochrane Collaboration) is a British international charitable organisation formed to organise medical research findings to facilitate evidence-based choices about health interventions involving health profes ...

provided guidance for a double-blind, randomized controlled trial of metiapine versus

chlorpromazine Chlorpromazine (CPZ), marketed under the brand names Thorazine and Largactil among others, is an antipsychotic medication. It is primarily used to treat psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. Other uses include the treatment of bipolar di ...

for the treatment of

, though the authors acknowledged that it is unlikely that any future trials will investigate the use of metiapine in humans. The available evidence for the use of metiapine is very limited.

References

{{Dopamine receptor modulators Abandoned drugs Dibenzothiazepines Dopamine antagonists Piperazines Typical antipsychotics