HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Neuropharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1591763
This article is part of the Research TopicWorld Schizophrenia Awareness Day: Raising Awareness and Advancing Pharmacological Strategies in SchizophreniaView all 4 articles
The Antipsychotics Functional Index (AFI) in Schizophrenia
Provisionally accepted
- 1Dr Marinescu G Gabriel-Cristian CMI, Pitesti, Arges, Romania
- 2Facultatea de Medicină, Universitatea Transilvania din Brașov, Brasov, Brasov, Romania
- 3University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iuliu Hatieganu, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
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Schizophrenia can lead to significant and long-lasting deficits in patient functionality. The present study proposes a theoretical index that predicts the ability of an antipsychotic to improve the functionality of patients with schizophrenia. An advantage of this theoretical index is that it directly compares 29 first-and second-generation antipsychotics. This theoretical index, named the Antipsychotics Functional Index (AFI), was constructed considering factors such as pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, pharmaceutical form, ease of administration, and safety aspects. A good antipsychotic ranking based on the proposed index results from combining the partial dopaminergic agonist mechanism and a lower frequency of administration. The top-ranked antipsychotic is aripiprazole long-acting injection (LAI) administered every 2 mo, 6 wk, or 1 mo, which is the only antipsychotic D2 partial agonist with an LAI formulation. It is followed by paliperidone LAI administered every 6 mo. This antipsychotic has the least frequent administration schedule. According to the AFI, the most favorable antipsychotics for functionality are generally second-generation LAI antipsychotics. The D2 partial agonist mechanism has a pharmacodynamic advantage. Based on this functionality index, psychiatrists could select the most suitable antipsychotic for each patient, with the ultimate goal of helping the patient achieve their maximum potential.
Keywords: Schizophrenia, Antipsychotics, functionality, AFI, LAI
Received: 11 Mar 2025; Accepted: 20 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Marinescu, Ifteni, Teodorescu and Georgescu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Gabriel-Cristian Marinescu, Dr Marinescu G Gabriel-Cristian CMI, Pitesti, Arges, Romania
Petru Iulian Ifteni, Facultatea de Medicină, Universitatea Transilvania din Brașov, Brasov, Brasov, Romania
Radu Georgescu, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iuliu Hatieganu, Cluj-Napoca, 400012, Romania
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.