The cost of treatment is of considerable interest to all those involved in caring for patients with schizophrenia. In a real-life setting, the atypical antipsychotic risperidone was more cost effective than olanzapine in the treatment of this expensive psychiatric disorder, according to a drug utilisation review conducted within a tertiary-care facility in British Columbia, Canada. These new data were presented at the 21st Congress of the Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum (CINP) [Glasgow, Scotland; July 1998].