Aripiprazole and Autism Ranking:

History

Aripiprazole was developed by the pharmaceutical company Otsuka in Japan, although it markets the drug jointly with the pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb in some other countries.

It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of schizophrenia in 2002. It was approved for use in the treatment of bipolar disorder in 2004. 
In 2009 the FDA approved aripiprazole for the treatment of irritability associated with autistic disorder in children aged 6 to 17 years.

According to NICE, antipsychotic drugs, such as aripiprazole, are now in common use to treat people on the autism spectrum.

‘Antipsychotic drugs have been widely used in people with autism; for instance, a longitudinal study of 286 adolescents and adults in the US found that they were the second most commonly taken drug among people aged over 20 years (38%), after antidepressants (44%) (Esbensen et al., 2009). In a UK audit of drug use for challenging behaviour in a learning disabilities sample (in which the commonest coexisting diagnosis was autism), 96% were prescribed antipsychotic medication (Marshall, 2004). In another community sample of people with a learning difficulty, Dhumad and Markar (2007) reported that autism was the reason for prescribing antipsychotic medication in 20% of people.’

Updated

17 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Jul 2018

Next Review

01 Mar 2024