Clozapine prescribing and COVID-19

COVID-19 Research Area(s): Healthcare Delivery & Policy, Mental Health & Wellbeing

Clozapine is a medication required for treatment of patients with schizophrenia who do not respond to other medications. Monthly lab testing is needed since clozapine can lower white blood cell counts. As well, clozapine levels can change with illness, increasing the risk of side effects. We convened an international group to make recommendations for clozapine prescribing during the pandemic.

The goal was to develop a series of recommendations for clozapine prescribing during the pandemic. A subgroup of the Treatment Response and Resistance in Psychosis working group was convened, and developed a consensus set of recommendations. These were submitted for peer-review, and accepted very rapidly for open access publication in a Canadian journal, the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, PMID 32242646.