Rimonabant for neurocognition in schizophrenia: a 16-week double blind randomized placebo controlled trial.

Objective: To examine the effect of rimonabant on neurocognitive impairments in people with schizophrenia.

Methods: Participants entered a 16-week double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial. A neurocognitive battery was administered at baseline and end of study.

Results: In comparison to rimonabant (20mg/day), placebo-treated participants exhibited a significant improvement on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status total score. In contrast, rimonabant was associated with significant improvement on a probabilistic learning task. There were no other significant treatment effects.

Conclusions: Rimonabant did not improve global cognitive functioning, but did improve a specific learning deficit based on response to positive feedback.