Lilly's Zyprexa "More Effective" Than Risperdal; Company Highlights Drug

Eli Lilly's schizophrenia agent Zyprexa (olanzapine) has been found tobe more effective on several clinical outcomes, including extrapyramidal side effects, negative symptoms and incidence of relapse, compared to Janssen-Cilag's Risperdal (risperidone). Results of this first double-blind, head-to-head comparison study were presented at the American Psychiatric Association meeting recently.

The study lasted 28 weeks and involved 339 patients who met the DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder or schizoaffective disorder. Patients were randomized to receive 10mg-20mg/day of Zyprexa or 4mg-12mg/day of Risperdal. The average dose at study-end was found to be 17.2mg/day of Zyprexa and 7.2mg/day of Risperdal. Of the 339 patients, 178 completed the study (Zyprexa =99, Risperdal =79).

Although the two drugs were comparable in reducing the severity of positive and negative symptoms, according to evaluation on the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale, a significantly greater percentage of Zyprexa patients demonstrated at least a 40% improvement (36.8% of Zyprexa patients versus 26.7% of Risperdal patients), and a 50% improvement (21.7% versus 12.1%, respectively).