science

Pimozide

Pimozide is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pimozide rather than just read about it. In short: Pimozide (sold under the brand name Orap) is a neuroleptic drug of the diphenylbutylpiperidine class. It was discovered at Janssen Pharmaceutica in 1963.

Key takeaways

Pimozide belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pimozide to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pimozide from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Pimozide (sold under the brand name Orap) is a neuroleptic drug of the diphenylbutylpiperidine class. It was discovered at Janssen Pharmaceutica in 1963. It has a high potency compared to chlorpromazine (ratio 50-70:1). On a weight basis it is even more potent than haloperidol. It also has special indication for Tourette syndrome and resistant tics.

Medical uses Pimozide is used for Tourette syndrome, and resistant tics (Europe, United States, and Canada) and in Europe for schizophrenia, chronic psychosis, delusional disorder, and paranoid personality disorder.

Efficacy A 2013 systematic review compared pimozide with other antipsychotics for schizophrenia or related psychoses: Pimozide versus any other antipsychotic In one case a series of 33 patients with delusional parasitosis (median age, 60 years), pimozide was prescribed for 24 patients, 18 of whom took the drug. The dose ranged from 1 to 5 mg daily. No information regarding initial dosing was specified, although the dose was continued for 6 weeks prior to tapering. Of those patients receiving pimozide, 61% (11/18) experienced improvement in or full remission of symptoms. The use of pimozide for the treatment of delusional parasitosis is based primarily on data from case series/reports that demonstrate some efficacy in the majority of patients. Currently, atypical antipsychotics such as olanzapine or risperidone are used as first line treatment. However, patients who experience negative side-effects with the first line medications are typically given pimozide.

Contraindications It is contraindicated in individuals with either acquired, congenital or a family history of QT interval prolongation. Its use is advised against in individuals with people with either a personal or a family history of arrhythmias or torsades de pointes. Likewise its use is also advised against in individuals with uncorrected hypokalaemia and hypomagnesaemia or clinical significant cardiac disorders (e.g. a recent myocardial infarction or bradycardia. It is also contraindicated in individuals being cotreated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) or in those with a known hypersensitivity to pimozide or other diphenylbutyl-piperidine derivatives. Likewise its use is contraindicated in individuals receiving treatment with CYP3A4, CYP1A2, or CYP2D6 inhibitors.

Side effects Very common (>10% frequency) side effects include:

Akinesia Constipation Dizziness Dry mouth Hyperhidrosis Nocturia Somnolence Speech disorder

Overdose Pimozide overdose presents with severe extrapyramidal symptoms, hypotension, sedation, QT interval prolongation and ventricular arrhythmias including torsades de pointes. Gastric lavage, establishment of a patent airway and, if necessary, mechanically assisted respiration is the recommended treatment for pimozide overdose. Cardiac monitoring should be continued for at least 4 days due to the long half-life of pimozide.

Pharmacology Pimozide acts as an antagonist of the D2, D3, and D4 receptors and the 5-HT7 receptor. It is also a hERG blocker. Similarly to other typical antipsychotics pimozide has a high affinity for the dopamine D2 receptor and this likely results in its sexual (due to prolactin hypersecretion) and extrapyramidal side effects as well as its therapeutic efficacy against the positive symptoms of schizophrenia.

History In 1985 pimozide was approved by the FDA for marketing as an orphan drug for the treatment of Tourette's syndrome.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pimozide

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pimozide claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pimozide before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pimozide ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pimozide

In research: Pimozide appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pimozide in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pimozide is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1-(4,4-Bis(4-fluorophenyl)butyl)piperidines, 5-HT7 antagonists, Belgian inventions, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pimozide outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Pimozide in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pimozide means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pimozide out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pimozide in simple terms?

Pimozide (sold under the brand name Orap) is a neuroleptic drug of the diphenylbutylpiperidine class. It was discovered at Janssen Pharmaceutica in 1963.

Why does Pimozide matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pimozide?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pimozide.