Fluphenazine Pharmacology

Real Life Pharmacology - Pharmacology Education for Health Care Professionals

Eric Christianson, PharmD; Pharmacology Expert and Clinical Pharmacist

Education, Health & Fitness, Medicine

5 • 716 Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Fluphenazine is a high-potency typical antipsychotic that primarily acts as a dopamine D2 receptor antagonist in the mesolimbic pathway, reducing positive symptoms of schizophrenia.

Extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS), such as dystonia, akathisia, and parkinsonism, are common due to potent D2 blockade in the nigrostriatal pathway.

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS), though rare, is a life-threatening adverse effect characterized by rigidity, hyperthermia, altered mental status, and autonomic instability.

CYP2D6 inhibitors (e.g., fluoxetine, paroxetine) can increase fluphenazine plasma concentrations, potentially raising the risk of toxicity and side effects.

Concomitant use of fluphenazine with CNS depressants (e.g., alcohol, benzodiazepines) can enhance sedation and respiratory depression.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, all, welcome back to the Real Life Pharmacology podcast. I'm your host, pharmacist, Eric Christensen.
0:05.0	Thank you so much for listening today. This episode is sponsored by MedEd101.com. Please go to Meded101.com
0:13.0	slash store. Go check out all the resources. There are tons of books, study materials, all that good stuff.
0:20.0	Naplex exam, ambulatory care, BCPS, pharmacists and pharmacy student content.
0:25.5	We've helped thousands of pharmacists prepare and pass their board exam and can definitely
0:29.9	help you too.
0:31.0	If you're another health care professional, pharmacy technician, nursing student, med student,
0:37.3	definitely tons of books on pharmacology resources.
0:40.9	Go check them all out. MedEd101.com slash store.
0:45.8	All right. So the drug of the day today is flufenazine.
0:49.8	Brand name of this medication is Prolixen.
0:53.4	And the class of this medication is a first generation
0:57.1	antipsychotic uh it is what's called a phenothiasein derivative which that gets into kind of some of the
1:03.7	the biochemistry and the uh molecular structure of the the medication if you will not going to go do a deep
1:10.6	dive into that but it is a phenothiozine derivative.
1:14.8	What is this medication used for?
1:16.6	Obviously, it's an antipsychotic.
1:19.1	So we're going to use it for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, possibly, you know, various states of delirium due to various things and other agitative states.
1:31.8	Also can potentially be used for tick disorders. That's an off-label use.
1:38.1	Again, this being a first generation antipsychotic, it's not one you're probably going to see a tremendous amount in practice.
1:46.1	The most common scenario that I've seen with flufenazine is patients that have been
1:53.1	long-term kind of schizophrenic patient that has been stable for a really, really long time,
	...

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