J&J drug: longer time to relapse than quetiapine

Findings from an international study presented at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting, held in Washington DC, showed that patients treated with US health care major Johnson & Johnson's risperidone long-acting injection had a significantly longer time-to-relapse compared to patients on the oral atypical medication quetiapine, the active ingredient in Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca's Seroquel.

The 24-month, open-label, active-controlled, comparative international study, which was sponsored by J&J subsidiary Janssen-Cilag, enrolled 710 patients and evaluated them in a routine care setting within general psychiatric services. Results demonstrated that the average relapse-free time was significantly longer in patients treated with RLAI (607 days) compared with quetiapine (533 days; p<0.0001). Furthermore, over the 24-month treatment period, relapse occurred in 16.5% of patients treated with RLAI and 31.3% in the quetiapine arm.

Separately, an interim analysis from a two-year US observational study, also presented at the APA meeting, showed that patients on RLAI had significantly improved functioning within three months of starting treatment. In the interim analysis of the 532-patient trial, a significant improvement in functioning from serious to occasional impairments following initiation of RLAI (p<0.001); and 11% more patients reported they were very or extremely satisfied with their current antipsychotic therapy, J&J noted.