OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to asses costs and effectiveness of amisulpride and other atypical antipsychotic drugs for the treatment of patients with schizophrenia in Poland. METHODS: The cost-effectiveness analysis from the payer perspective was conducted. Clinical data was derived from published clinical trials. Clinical improvement according to the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) was adopted as a measure of effectiveness. Only direct medical costs were included and were expressed in polish zloty (PLN), 1 EUR = 3.95 PLN, exchange rate; 1 EUR =1.98 PLN, purchasing power parities). The study horizon amounted to 8 weeks (the short-term model) and to 6 months of treatment (the long-term model). In the analysis there were three strategies of treatment compared: amisulpride, risperidone and olanzapine. The comparison was done pair-wisely: amisulpride vs olanzapine and amisulpride vs risperidone. RESULTS: Both in the short-term and in the long-term model, the amisulpride proved to be a dominant strategy – having lower average cost and higher average effect – against risperidone as well as against olanzapine. Comparing amisulpride and risperidone – in the short-term model the cost-effectiveness ratios (average cost per one unit of BPRS improvement) amounted to 55.3 PLN and 83.1 PLN for amisulpride and risperidone, respectively. In the long-term model the numbers were 135.7 PLN and 179.3 PLN, respectively. Conducting the amisulpride vs olanzapine comparison – in the short-term model the cost-effectiveness ratios amounted to 34 PLN for amisulpride and 43.5 PLN for olanzapine, and in the long-term model to: 105 PLN and 125 PLN, respectively. As amisulpride was a dominant strategy in all comparisons, acceptability curves were calculated instead of incremental cost-effectiveness ratios. CONCLUSIONS: The pharmacoeconomic evaluation in the short-term model as well as in the long-term model shows that amisulpride is a dominant strategy in the treatment of schizophrenia in Poland.