Lurasidone, a cost effective treatment option for schizophrenic patients: Study

The findings have been put forth in Neuropsychiatric Diseases Treatment.

Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are replacing traditional antipsychotics as first line therapy for the treatment of schizophrenia. While recent evidence suggests similar efficacy with low dose conventional antipsychotics, much of the advantage favoring SGAs comes from the fact that there are fewer extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) at effective doses with these drugs. As a medication class and with the exception of clozapine, the SGAs overall are very similar with regard to efficacy yet are heterogeneous with regard to receptor binding and structure-activity as well as their side effect liabilities

Cardiovascular and metabolic adverse events are costly to treat, and their incidence is increased amongst people with schizophrenia, with different rates observed for second-generation antipsychotics.

To inform treatment choice, this recent study sought to estimate the lifetime costs associated with antipsychotic choice, and how these costs varied across European countries.

For this recent study,Systematic searches were conducted to identify evidence on effectiveness and costs. A Markov model was developed to assess the costs of ten antipsychotics: aripiprazole, brexpiprazole, cariprazine, lumateperone, lurasidone, olanzapine, paliperidone, quetiapine, risperidone and ziprasidone. Costs were obtained for seven countries: Italy, Hungary, France, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK. The costs considered were adverse events (including diabetes, myocardial infarction, stroke and weight gain), drug costs, relapse, treatment discontinuation and schizophrenia management. Two adult populations were modelled; initiating either acute or maintenance treatment, with a lifetime horizon for both.

Data analysis revealed the following facts.

• Lurasidone was associated with the lowest lifetime costs amongst patients initiating acute treatment compared to all other atypical antipsychotics considered. The second lowest costs were for ziprasidone.
• These results were observed for all seven countries.
• The main drivers of cost differences were rates of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, which were lowest for lurasidone, followed by ziprasidone then lumateperone.
• Costs for managing weight gain were lowest for lurasidone and ziprasidone.
• Similar results were observed for patients initiating maintenance treatment.

For the full article follow the link: https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S282856

Primary source: Neuropsychiatric Diseases Treatment