A "glucose eater" drug as a therapeutic agent in psychiatry.

Metformin, currently approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, is an interesting drug that has various cellular and molecular mechanisms. These mechanisms have justified other off-label clinical and investigational uses for diabetes prevention in high-risk patients, for polycystic ovary syndrome, non-diabetic obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and for prevention or treatment of cancer. A large number of controlled and uncontrolled studies have generally found metformin to be effective, well tolerated, and safe for preventing or treating antipsychotic-related weight gain and for improving metabolic abnormalities in psychiatric patient populations. Metformin has the potential effect of inducing hippocampal neurogenesis, and additional studies of this drug are warranted in patients with mood or cognitive disorders.