Long-acting risperidone injection: efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of the first long-acting atypical antipsychotic

Abstract

evaluating the pharmacokinetics, efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of long-acting risperidone were reviewed, as identified from literature searches using Medline and EMBASE. Abstracts and posters on long-acting risperidone presented at key psychiatry congresses and available in the public domain during this time period were also reviewed. Results:The unique pharmacokinetic profile of long-acting risperidone is derived from the encapsulation of risperidone in a glycolide/lactide matrix in the form of microspheres such that after a single intramuscular injection, significant plasma levels of the drug are achieved after week 3. Steady state, after repeated administration at 2-week intervals, is achieved after 3 injection cycles. Short-and long-term studies have demonstrated that long-acting risperidone (25, 37.5, or 50 mg) is both efficacious and well tolerated in a wide variety of patients with schizophrenia and related psychoses. Most patients can be switched from other oral and longacting antipsychotic agents without compromising efficacy and safety. Long-acting risperidone may also reduce overall healthcare costs by decreasing rates of relapse and hospitalization. Conclusion: The assured delivery of an atypical antipsychotic medication with long-acting risperidone has important implications for patient compliance, maintenance of stability, consistency of treatment, and improving patient outcomes including the achievement of remission.

Clinical outcomes of long-acting injectable risperidone in patients with schizophrenia: six-month follow-up from the Electronic Schizophrenia Treatment Adherence Registry in Latin America

“…If they believe that the benefits outweigh the costs, they will generally show a higher adherence to treatment 51. Relatively few patients have withdrawn from RLAI studies due to side effects (1.2%–16%), and the drug is generally well tolerated 52. The results of this study confirm that RLAI is a safe and well tolerated treatment option.…”

Long Acting Injectable versus Oral Antipsychotics in Reducing Hospitalization Outcomes in Schizophrenia: A Mirror-Image Study

“…Other cost benefit analysis studies have estimated to translate into overall cost savings of $4142-$7465 US for the first year of treatment of switching to RLAI (Chue, 2007). This data is only representative of direct costs to the health care system, the indirect savings of preventing relapses on a societal, individual, and caregiver level are invaluable.…”

“…Schizophrenia has been estimated to account for 1-3% of total healthcare expenditure (Phanthunane, Vos, Whiteford, & Bertram, 2011). Overall, 79% of the direct costs of schizophrenia result from hospitalization or other residential care (Chue, 2007).…”

Remission and recovery during the first outpatient year of the early course of schizophrenia

“…Although treatment targets for the early course of schizophrenia have traditionally emphasized relapse, achieving and maintaining periods of sustained remission has been a recent focus (Chue, 2007; Nasrallah and Lasser, 2006). This new focus has been facilitated by the availability of operational criteria which can be extended to early course of the illness (Andreasen et al, 2005; Lasser et al, 2007).…”