Clozapine for the Prevention of Violence in Schizophrenia: a Randomized Clinical Trial

This is a single-blind, open-label, randomized, active comparator (TAU) controlled clinical trial to examine the effects of clozapine vs. TAU on the risk for violent acts as measured by the MacArthur Community Violence Interview (MCVI) and to examine the effects of clozapine vs. TAU on the Excitement Factor of the PANSS. Adults age 18-65 with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who have committed a violent act within 6 months and are appropriate for treatment with clozapine or TAU will receive treatment for 24 weeks which will be naturalistically administered. Participants will also participate in assessments and appropriate medical monitoring which will include blood draws, pharmacokinetic blood samples, and physical exams, etc. Cox proportional hazards survival modeling will be used to test the association between treatment group and time until first violent act after randomization (i.e., number of weeks form randomization to violent act).