Early prediction of blonanserin response in Japanese patients with schizophrenia

Abstract

BackgroundBlonanserin is a second-generation antipsychotic used for the treatment of schizophrenia in Japan and Korea. The present study aimed to examine early prediction of blonanserin in patients with schizophrenia.MethodsAn 8-week, prospective, single-arm, flexible-dose clinical trial of blonanserin in patients with schizophrenia was conducted under real-world conditions. The inclusion criteria were antipsychotic naïve, and first-episode schizophrenia patients or schizophrenia patients with no consumption of any antipsychotic medication for more than 4 weeks before enrollment in this study. The positive predictive value, negative predictive value, sensitivity, specificity, and predictive power were calculated for the response status at week 4 to predict the subsequent response at week 8.ResultsThirty-seven patients were recruited (56.8% of them had first-episode schizophrenia), and 28 (75.7%) completed the trial. At week 8, blonanserin was associated with a significant improvement in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score (P<0.0001) and in positive (P<0.0001), negative (P<0.0001), and general subscale scores (P<0.0001). In terms of percentage improvement of PANSS total scores from baseline to week 8, 64.9% of patients showed a ≥20% reduction in the PANSS total score and 48.6% showed a ≥30% reduction. However, 8.1% of patients experienced at least one adverse event. Using the 20% reduction in the PANSS total score at week 4 as a definition of an early response, the negative predictive values for later responses (ie, reductions of ≥30 and ≥40 in the PANSS total scores) were 88.9% and 94.1%, respectively. The specificities were 80.0% and 51.6%, respectively.ConclusionOur results suggest that the blonanserin response at week 4 could predict the later response at week 8.

Relationship between efficacy and common metabolic parameters in first-treatment drug-naïve patients with early non-response schizophrenia: a retrospective study

“…There is still a lot of evidence that early response to psychiatric illness is a strong predictor of later efficacy and functional recovery [20][21][22], particularly in the second week of efficacy response [23]. The present study also supports the above conclusion.…”

Relationship between efficacy and common metabolic parameters in first- treatment drug-naïve patients with early non-response schizophrenia: a retrospective study

“…There is still a lot of evidence that early response to psychiatric illness is a strong predictor of later e cacy and functional recovery [20][21][22], particularly in the second week of e cacy response [23]. The present study also supports the above conclusion.…”

Switching Antipsychotics to Blonanserin in Patients with Schizophrenia: An Open-label, Prospective, Multicenter Study

“…The response rate observed in the present study (44.2%) was comparable with the results of previous non-switching studies of blonanserin in schizophrenic patients, which reported response rates of 38% to 49%,11,22) and switching studies of other antipsychotics, including risperidone, olanzapine, or quetiapine, which reported response rates of approximately 30% to 50%,23–25) despite differences in the subject characteristics, measurement scales, and evaluation periods. Moreover, consistent with previous studies of blonanserin, switching to blonanserin was generally well tolerated.…”