On August 30, 2011, Dr. Covert and his staff and other members of the Houston psychiatric community were invited to attend a scientific presentation entitled “Current Issues in Neuropsychiatry.” The topics included “Monitoring of Patients with Bipolar I disorder or Schizophrenia.”
The two speakers were John Docherty, M.D., Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, Cornell Medical College and Matthew Byerly, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry, U.T. Southwestern Medical Center, and Director of the Schizophrenic Research Program there.
The focus of the program was to review the use of atypical antipsychotic medications, with comparisons to the relatively newer and novel sublingual medication, Saphris (asenapine). The goal with this medication is to achieve remission in at least 50% of patients. It has an early onset of action. It may have efficacy in acute severe cases, similar to Zyprexa Zydis and shows promise in maintenance studies. It also has minimal drug-drug interactions (mainly with Luvox) and has a very manageable side effect profile. Somnolence is noted in 24% of patients with twice daily dosing, suggesting that a possible off-label single daily dose administration before bedtime may be helpful and may evolve in the future as the preferred approach.
Dr. Covert and his staff frequently participate in continuing psychiatric education events so that they are able to provide patients with the latest information and treatment strategies. Also, they really enjoyed meeting Dr. Docherty and Dr. Byerly.
Posted on 8-31-2011
