Is Brexpiprazole More Effective than Aripiprazole for Patients with Schizophrenia?
Patients with acute schizophrenia get more benefit from brexpiprazole than aripiprazole, and face less risk of akathisia with brexpiprazole, shows an exploratory study published in International Clinical Psychopharmacology.
Researchers set out to study the effects of each drug on efficacy, cognitive functioning, and patient safety. The participants were patients who would benefit from hospitalization or continued hospitalization for acute relapse of schizophrenia.
Participants were randomized and given either 3 mg/day of brexpiprazole or 15 mg/day of aripiprazole for 6 weeks. Sixty-four patients received brexpiprazole and 33 took aripiprazole.
The open-label study assessed the changes over 6 weeks in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total score, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11-item score, and Cogstate computerized cognitive test battery scores.
On the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, which measures symptoms of schizophrenia, the total score dropped by 22.9 in patients treated with brexpiprazole, and by 19.4 in patients taking aripiprazole.
Patients taking brexpiprazole saw a modest reduction in impulsivity, but the aripiprazole cohort did not. The mean changes in the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11-item total score were -2.7 and 0.1, respectively.
No change in Cogstate scores was observed for either group.
The incidence of akathisia was 9.4% among participants taking brexpiprazole, and 21.2% for the group taking aripiprazole.
The FDA approved brexpiprazole in 2015, and aripiprazole in 2002.
–Terri Airov
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