Switching to long-acting injectable risperidone is beneficial with regard to clinical outcomes, regardless of previous conventional medication in patients with schizophrenia.

INTRODUCTION: Using an atypical long-acting antipsychotic may improve patient outcome by offering the good efficacy and tolerability of an atypical antipsychotic with improved compliance through depot administration.

METHODS: This subanalysis of an international, 6-month, open-label trial of risperidone long-acting injectable (RLAI) focused on non-acute schizophrenic adult patients switching from oral or depot conventional antipsychotic. Efficacy assessments included Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), quality of life, treatment satisfaction, hospitalization rates, and treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs).

RESULTS: Over 70% of patients switching from oral (n=100) or depot (n=565) conventional medication completed treatment. Improvements were observed for PANSS total and subscale scores, GAF, quality of life, treatment satisfaction and hospitalization. Overall RLAI was well tolerated. TEAEs occurring in >5% were: anxiety (11.0%), insomnia (9.0%), weight increase (6.0%) for patients switching from oral, and weight increase (6.0%) and disease exacerbation (5.3%) for patients switching from depot medication.

CONCLUSION: Patients with schizophrenia, unsatisfactorily treated with oral or depot conventional antipsychotics, showed improvement in symptom control, tolerability, and patient satisfaction after switching to RLAI.