Johnson and Johnson says schizophrenia injection works better than oral drug

A new treatment for schizophrenia could prolong the time it takes for a patient to relapse, a study suggests.

The risperidone long-acting injection (RLAI) showed results that were favourable against the current oral drug quetiapine, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) said.

The company presented its results at the 161st annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington DC.

Study investigator professor Wolfgang Gaebel from Heinrich-Heine University in Dusseldorf said: “This study provides compelling evidence that RLAI offers a significant benefit to people with schizophrenia in delaying the time to relapse.”

Almost half of schizophrenia patients do not stay on their oral medication and this results in a relapse of their symptoms, J&J said, while those in receipt of the RLAI took longer to relapse.

RLAI is manufactured by Alkermes and marketed in the UK by Janssen-Cilag, one of the 190 J&J healthcare companies worldwide.

According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, schizophrenia symptoms can be divided into positive and negative, where the former includes hallucinations and the latter includes depression.