Some behavioral health leaders and government policymakers believe the first-phase results from the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) justify a look back at first-generation antipsychotics ("typicals") as viable first-line treatments for schizophrenia. Yet two experts interviewed by Behavioral Healthcare suggest that the initial results perhaps should have these individuals looking forward instead, toward a next class of drugs that could improve on the efficacy of currently used antipsychotics without the side effects that plagued compliance with the conventional drugs.

Rather than emphasizing that the conventional antipsychotic ...