Comparison of olanzapine long-acting injection and oral olanzapine: a 2-year, randomized, open-label study in outpatients with schizophrenia.

We compared long-term treatment effectiveness of monthly olanzapine long-acting injection (LAI) with that of oral olanzapine. Outpatients with 2 or more episodes of psychotic worsening in the past 24 months with Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total score of lower than 70 were randomized to 405 mg/4 weeks of olanzapine LAI (n = 264) or 10 mg/d of oral olanzapine (n = 260) for 2 years of open-label treatment. Dosing thereafter was flexible (150-405 mg/4 weeks of LAI vs 5-20 mg/d of oral). Primary outcome was time to all-cause discontinuation. At baseline, patients were clinically stable (mean Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total score of 57). Seventeen percent of patients had been psychiatrically hospitalized in the previous 6 months, and 4.6% were rated nonadherent in the month before study entry. The groups did not differ significantly in median time to all-cause discontinuation (645 days for LAI, 678 days for oral; P = 0.61), discontinuation rate (53.8% for LAI, 51.2% for oral; P = 0.60), or relapse rate (20.1% for LAI, 18.5% for oral; P = 0.66). Postbaseline psychiatric hospitalization rate was low for both groups (7.6% for LAI, 9.2% for oral), but mean hospitalization duration was significantly longer for oral patients (1.80 days [20 for those hospitalized] vs 0.43 days [6 for those hospitalized], P = 0.02). There were no clinically significant group differences in adverse events or safety measures. No post-injection delirium/sedation syndrome events occurred. In conclusion, olanzapine LAI and oral olanzapine were similarly effective and well tolerated for up to 2 years of treatment in patients with schizophrenia. Treatment discontinuation for olanzapine LAI was similar to that of oral olanzapine, despite the 3-hour post-injection observation period and other precautionary procedures related to risk of post-injection delirium/sedation syndrome.