ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 19, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Schizophrenia is a
chronic and disabling brain disorder that affects 1 percent of the
U.S. population and results in substantial medical and societal
costs, in particular from use of health-care resources. It also can
have devastating health-related and social effects on people with
the disease, their families and caregivers.
A pre-specified analysis from a longer-term clinical study
presented at the U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress today
suggests that psychiatric hospitalization rates decreased for
adults with schizophrenia who were treated with INVEGA®
SUSTENNA® (paliperidone palmitate), a long-acting atypical
antipsychotic for acute and maintenance treatment of schizophrenia
in adults.
“This study suggests that INVEGA SUSTENNA may have potential to
reduce psychiatric hospitalization rates,” said Chris M. Kozma,
PhD, independent researcher and adjunct professor, University of
South Carolina, Columbia, and consultant for Ortho-McNeil Janssen
Scientific Affairs, L.L.C., the sponsor of the study. “While
the results will need further investigation to confirm these
observations, a treatment that can potentially lead to reduced
hospitalizations for schizophrenia may offer economic benefits to
health-care systems that pay for schizophrenia-related inpatient
care.”
Study MethodsData for the analysis were from two phases of
the clinical trial: a double-blind, randomized, relapse-prevention
maintenance phase that compared INVEGA SUSTENNA to placebo and a
one-year open-label extension of the study, during which all
patients were treated with INVEGA SUSTENNA.
The change in schizophrenia-related hospitalization rates
between the two phases of the study was evaluated for the group of
patients treated with INVEGA SUSTENNA and for the group that
received placebo. Data were obtained from an investigator-completed
resource-use questionnaire. Overall change in hospitalization
ra
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