The safety, efficacy and tolerability of Abilify Maintena for the treatment of schizophrenia.
Relapse in schizophrenia has been associated with poor adherence to oral medication. A possible method to optimize medication adherence could be to switch patients from oral to depot medication. In this respect, aripiprazole long acting injectable (ALAI) significantly delayed time to impending relapse when compared with placebo (p < 0.0001), while ALAI was generally well tolerated during both short-term and long-term studies. A literature search, using PubMed was conducted to identify relevant publications. Available evidence suggests that ALAI may be a viable treatment option for patients with schizophrenia, but before it can be concluded whether or not all schizophrenia patients could benefit from a switch to depot formulations, several questions remain to be answered. Thus, there is a great need for randomized controlled trials comparing depot medications with their oral equivalents.
a University Medical center Utrecht - Psychiatry-Clinical trials, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Rene S
RS
Kahn
Amalia
A
Giannopoulou
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000592:standards / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000068180:Aripiprazole / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations / Q000592:standards / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy*
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D000068180:Aripiprazole
adherence; aripiprazole; depot; head-to-head; long acting; oral equivalents; relapse