The National Institutes of Health has initiated a four-year trial to test the effectiveness of new drug treatments for cognitive dysfunction associated with schizophrenia. The multicenter project will be directed by Stephen R. Marder, MD.

Although available medications are reasonably effective in treating the positive symptoms of the disease such as hallucinations and delusions, recent research indicates that cognitive impairments in areas such as attention, memory, and problem solving are responsible for much of the disability associated with the disease.

"Unfortunately, the medications currently available do little to remedy this aspect of the illness. Consequently, many patients have serious residual symptoms and only one in five are able to recover sufficiently to work," said Thomas R. Insel, M.D., director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

The new project is only one component of a multipronged effort to stimulate academic and industry-sponsored research on cognitive deficits in schizophrenia; it follows completion of the Measurement and Treatment Research for Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS). The goals of MATRICS were to identify the most promising science-based ideas regarding the neurochemical basis of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and to achieve a broad academic, industry, and regulatory agreement on the best way to measure cognition in clinical trials.