pimozide
n. a conventional antipsychotic of the diphenylbutylpiperidine class. Like other conventional antipsychotics, it blocks of postsynaptic dopamine D2 receptors. In the United States, it is officially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration only for the management of vocal and motor tics associated with Tourette’s disorder, although it is widely used as an antipsychotic drug in Europe and South America. Pimozide has been associated with potentially lethal disturbances of heart rhythm, and it should not be used in patients with histories of arrhythmias or in doses exceeding 10 mg/day. Because pimozide has no apparent special advantages over similar antipsychotics that are less damaging to the heart (e.g., haloperidol), it should be used to treat Tourette’s disorder only if other medications have failed to produce the desired response. U.S. trade name: Orap.