GLP-1 agonists: superior for mind and body in antipsychotic-treated patients?

ABSTRACT

Antipsychotics (APDs) represent a core treatment for severe mental disorders (SMEs). Providing symptomatic relief, APDs do not exert therapeutic effects on another clinically significant domain of serious mental disorders, cognitive impairment. Moreover, adverse metabolic effects (diabetes, weight gain, dyslipidemia, and increased cardiovascular risk) are common during treatment with APDs. Among pharmacological candidates reversing APD-induced metabolic adverse effects, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), approved for both diabetes and recently for obesity treatment, stand out due to their favorable effects on peripheral metabolic parameters. Interestingly, GLP-1 RAs are also proposed to have pro-cognitive effects. Particularly in terms of dual therapeutic mechanisms potentially improving both central nervous system (CNS) deficits and metabolic burden, GLP-1 RAs open a new perspective and assume a clinically advantageous position.