Ziprasidone

Ziprasidone (marketed as Geodon, Zeldox by Pfizer) was the fifth atypical antipsychotic to gain approval (February 2001) in the United States. It is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of schizophrenia, and acute mania and mixed states associated with bipolar disorder. Its intramuscular injection form is approved for acute agitation in schizophrenic patients for whom treatment with just ziprasidone is appropriate.

Ziprasidone is also used off-label for depression, bipolar maintenance, mood disorders, anxiety, aggression, dementia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, autism, and post-traumatic stress disorder, though Pfizer was penalized for promoting such uses in US.

The oral form of ziprasidone is the hydrochloride salt, ziprasidone hydrochloride. The intramuscular form, on the other hand, is the mesylate salt, ziprasidone mesylate trihydrate, and is provided as a lyophilized powder.

Geodon was one of four drugs which Pfizer pleaded guilty to misbranding "with the intent to defraud or mislead" in 2009 as a result of a qui tam lawsuit by Stefan P. Kruszewski. Pfizer was found to have illegally promoted four of its drugs for (legal) use in conditions that had not been approved by the FDA. Pfizer agreed to pay $2.3 billion (£1.4 billion) in settlement, and entered a corporate integrity agreement.