Mini Review on Cariprazine: A Promising Antipsychotic Agent

Abstract: Cariprazine is a piperazine derivative approved by the USFDA in 2015 as a novel atypical antipsychotic drug (APD) to treat adults with schizophrenia and bipolar manic or mixed episodes in adults. However, due to the partial agonist action on dopamine D2, D3 receptors, and serotonin 5-HT1A receptors as well as antagonist effect on 5-HT2A, 5-HT2B, and H1 receptors, cariprazine differentiate pharmacologically from other APDs, both typical and atypical. Moreover, cariprazine also has a unique pharmacokinetic profile due to the formation of two clinically significant metabolites: desmethyl-cariprazine (DCAR), longer half-life than parent cariprazine and didesmethyl-cariprazine (DDCAR) by CYP3A4, and also lower extent through CYP2D6. Here, we also review the effectiveness, safety, as well as current clinical update of cariprazine in bipolar I disorder associated with/without mania and schizophrenia by randomized and post-hoc analysis. The potential benefits of cariprazine as a promising therapeutic alternative in addressing major clinical requirements for better therapy of such severe neuropsychiatric conditions were demonstrated in this summarized review study.