Amantadine: Mechanisms of action and potential therapeutic uses
Amantadine is an old medicine with many potential uses.
Originally developed in the 1960s to prevent flu, amantadine was later approved (in 1976) to treat symptoms of influenza, type A.
Amantadine is no longer recommended as a flu treatment, but during its use as a flu therapeutic, many patients with Parkinson’s disease reported significant improvement in their neurological symptoms.
Amantadine is currently an FDA-recognized treatment for Parkinson’s disease. It also has several off-label uses, most notably as a treatment for extrapyramidal side effects from antipsychotic medications. It has attracted attention as a potential treatment for antipsychotic-induced weight gain and as an adjunctive treatment for depression.
This lecture examines some of the numerous potential therapeutic uses for amantadine, explains its mechanisms of action and reviews potential risks.
This lecture was given at the July 7, 2020 meeting of the SZconsult learning community. Check out SZconsult.org for more information.
SZconsult is a free consultation + education service offered by Northeast Ohio Medical University. It’s open to any clinician who wants to learn more about schizophrenia-spectrum illness, or who wants to tap into the collective wisdom of the learning community to find answers to clinical problems.
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