Implications of Pimavanserin in Patients with Dementia-related Psychosis: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Psychosis in patients with dementia-related disorders has long been a challenging issue to be tackled by the medical fraternity. Although atypical antipsychotics (AP) are in use for the same reason, there has always been a question regarding their safety and tolerability in this group of patients. Pimavanserin, a serotonin receptor inverse agonist or antagonist, is the only drug that is Food and Drug Administration-licensed to be used for the treatment of Parkinson's disease psychosis. This systematic review, which was conducted in line with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses 2020, had the objective of examining the effects of pimavanserin in patients with dementia-related psychosis (DRP). Among the publications (January 1, 2013–July 12, 2023) we gathered and examined were case–control and cohort studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, clinical trials, literature reviews, and randomized and nonrandomized control trials. The databases used to construct this list of publications were PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar. These three databases yielded 157 reports in total once the relevant filters were applied. They were then further screened and put through quality evaluation processes, which led to the final nine papers that were included in this systematic review. We concluded from our review that pimavanserin proves to be a promising alternative for the treatment of DRP, showing significant improvements and fewer side effects compared to other atypical AP.

Keywords

• pimavanserin
• dementia
• psychosis