Lilly maintains cost-effectiveness of Zyprexa

US drug major Eli Lilly has commented on data from the cost-effectiveness analysis of the CATIE study. The firm noted that, while the first-generation typical antipsychotic perphenazine was the most cost-effective when used in modest doses in the treatment of patients without pre-existing tardive dyskinesia, it was closely followed by Lilly's atypical antipsychotic Zyprexa (olanzapine).

According to Cherri Miner, Lilly US medical director for Zyprexa, there are inherent limitations to every study that need to be recognized and understood. "Most importantly, the CATIE CEA findings with respect to perphenazine are specific to a unique patient group - that is, schizophrenia patients treated with perphenazine at modest doses without pre-existing tardive dyskinesia. Therefore, the relevance of these findings to other typical antipsychotics is unknown as is the relevance to patients with pre-existing tardive dyskinesia, since they were not given perphenazine. It also is difficult to determine the clinical relevance of the perphenazine findings given how infrequently it is currently prescribed in the USA," she said.

Lilly emphasized that the data, which were published in the December 1 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, show that Zyprexa was the most cost-effective among the atypicals studied. These results are a secondary analysis to the initial findings of CATIE, which demonstrated that Zyprexa-treated patients stayed on their medication longer and required fewer hospitalizations. The CATIE program also investigated Pfizer's Geodon (ziprasidone), AstraZeneca's Seroquel (quetiapine), Johnson & Johnson's Risperdal (risperidone) and Novartis' Clozavir (clozapine).