(paliperidone palmitate)
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Last Updated: 10/10/2024
Doses of paliperidone palmitate extended-release injectable suspension may be expressed in milligram equivalents of paliperidone (active moiety) or milligrams of paliperidone palmitate. Dosage information in this response has been converted to mg of paliperidone palmitate to reflect the commercially available dosage strengths in the United States. The conversion factor from mg eq. to mg is 1.56.
FORMULATION
INVEGA SUSTENNA is an aqueous extended-release suspension that uses nano-particle technology.6
For patients who have never taken oral paliperidone or oral or injectable risperidone, it is recommended to establish tolerability with oral paliperidone or oral risperidone prior to initiating INVEGA SUSTENNA.1,3,4 After establishing tolerability, initiate INVEGA SUSTENNA with a dose of 234 mg on treatment day 1 and 156 mg one week later, both administered in the deltoid muscle. Following the second dose, monthly maintenance doses can be administered in either the deltoid or gluteal muscle. For schizophrenia, the recommended monthly maintenance dose is 117 mg. Some patients may benefit from lower or higher maintenance doses within the additional available strengths (39 mg, 78 mg, 156 mg, and 234 mg). For schizoaffective disorder, the recommended monthly maintenance dose range is 78-234 mg.3,5 The 39 mg strength was not studied in the long-term schizoaffective disorder study. Adjustment to the maintenance dose may be made monthly.
Please refer to the Prescribing Information for detailed information regarding the dosage and administration of INVEGA SUSTENNA.
The most common (at least 5% in any INVEGA SUSTENNA group) and likely drug-related (adverse events for which the drug rate is at least twice the placebo rate) adverse reactions from the double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in subjects with schizophrenia were injection site reactions, somnolence/sedation, dizziness, akathisia, and extrapyramidal disorder.4 No occurrences of adverse events reached this threshold in the long-term double-blind, placebo-controlled study in subjects with schizoaffective disorder. In the schizoaffective disorder clinical trial, adverse reactions that occurred more frequently in the INVEGA SUSTENNA than the placebo group (a 2% difference or more between groups) were weight increased, nasopharyngitis, headache, hyperprolactinemia, and pyrexia.5
The percentage of subjects who discontinued due to adverse events in the four fixed-dose, double-blind, placebo-controlled schizophrenia trials were similar for INVEGA SUSTENNA- and placebo-treated subjects.1 The percentage of subjects who discontinued due to adverse events in the open-label period of the long-term study in subjects with schizoaffective disorder was 7.5%.2 During the double-blind, placebo-controlled period of that study, the percentages of subjects who discontinued due to adverse events were 5.5% and 1.8% in INVEGA SUSTENNA- and placebo-treated subjects, respectively.3
Please refer to the Prescribing Information for detailed information regarding ADVERSE REACTIONS for INVEGA SUSTENNA.
The efficacy and safety of INVEGA SUSTENNA as monotherapy in the treatment of adults with schizophrenia were assessed in four acute, short-term, fixed-dose studies,7
The efficacy and safety of INVEGA SUSTENNA as monotherapy or as adjunctive therapy to a mood stabilizer or antidepressant in the treatment of schizoaffective disorder was assessed in an international, long-term, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized-withdrawal maintenance study in adults.5,14
Acute, Short-term Clinical Studies in Schizophrenia | |
Pandina et al (2010)7; Haskins et al (2009)8 Dosing Schedule: Following a ≤7-day screening, washout, and tolerability period, patients were randomized to one of three PP1M treatment arms (39, 156, or 234 mg) or to PBO. Patients received initiation doses of 234 mg (all PP1M patients) or PBO on day 1 (deltoid IM injection) followed by their fixed doses or PBO on days 8, 36, and 64 (deltoid or gluteal IM injection). Primary Efficacy: Mean change in PANSS total score | Change in PANSS Total Score:
Estimated Effect Size Compared with PBO:
Onset of effect was seen as early as day 8 in the PP1M 39- and 234-mg groups and day 22 in the 156-mg group Safety: Most common treatment-emergent AEs (≥2% in any treatment group) that occurred more frequently (≥1% difference) in the total PP1M group than in the PBO group were injection-site pain (PP1M: 7.6% versus PBO: 3.7%), dizziness (2.5% versus 1.2%), sedation (2.3% versus 0.6%), pain in extremity (1.6% versus 0%), and myalgia (1% versus 0%) |
Kramer et al (2010)9 Dosing Schedule Following a 5-day screening/washout phase and a 7-day oral run-in period, patients were randomized to receive gluteal IM injections of PP1M doses (78 or 156 mg) or PBO without oral supplementation on days 1, 8, and 36. Primary Efficacy: Mean change in PANSS total score | Change in PANSS Total Score:
Onset of effect was observed within 8 days of the first injection for both doses. Safety: Treatment-emergent AEs were similar between the treatment groups:
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Nasrallah et al (2010)10 Dosing Schedule Following a ≤7-day screening, washout, and tolerability period, patients were randomized to one of three fixed PP1M doses (39, 78, or 156 mg) or PBO administered by gluteal IM injection on days 1, 8, 36, and 64. Primary Efficacy: Mean change in PANSS total score | Change in PANSS Total Score:
Onset of effect was observed at day 36 for all 3 doses Safety: AEs in at least 5% of patients in any treatment group were similar except for the following:
A higher rate of serious treatment-emergent AEs was reported for PBO-treated patients (18%) than for PP1M-treated patients (8-14%) |
Gopal et al (2010)11 conducted a 13-week, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, PBO-controlled, parallel-group, dose-response study evaluating the efficacy and safety of three fixed doses of PP1M in patients with schizophrenia (n=349, primary efficacy analysis set) Dosing Schedule: Following a washout, screening, and tolerability period that lasted for ≤7 days, patients were randomized to receive one of three fixed doses of PP1M (78, 156, or 234 mg) or PBO administered by gluteal IM injection on days 1, 8, 36, and 64. Primary Efficacy: Mean change in PANSS total score | Change from Baseline to Endpoint in PANSS Total Score (LOCF):
Differences from PBO in LS Mean Change in PANSS Total Score:
A significant onset of effect was evident on day 36 with the 156 mg dose. Safety: AEs occurring more frequently (≥5% difference) with PP1M than with PBO were headache, vomiting, injection-site pain, and pain in extremity |
Longer-term Maintenance Study in Schizophrenia | |
Hough et al (2010)12 conducted a longer-term, double-blind, randomized, multicenter, PBO-controlled, parallel-group study examining the efficacy and safety of PP1M in the prevention of schizophrenia symptom relapse following an initial 9-week, open-label transition phase and a 24-week, open-label maintenance phase (double-blind phase, n=410) Dosing Schedule: Following a ≤7-day screening and washout period, patients received gluteal IM injections of PP1M 78 mg on days 1 and 8 of the transition phase followed by adjustable doses of PP1M 39, 78, or 156 mg administered every four weeks for the remainder of the transition phase and for the first 12 weeks of the maintenance phase. Doses remained fixed for the last 12 weeks of the maintenance phase and during the double-blind relapse-prevention phase. Primary Efficacy: Time to first relapse event (psychiatric hospitalization, deliberate self-injury, suicidal or homicidal ideation, or certain predefined PANSS scores) | Median Time to Relapse (interim analysis):
Number (%) of relapse events:
The study terminated early because of a significant difference in interim results for time to relapse Final analysis:
Safety:
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Long-Term Comparative Monotherapy Treatment versus Oral Antipsychotic Therapy | |
Alphs et al (2015)13 compared the time to first treatment failure in a community sample of patients from nontraditional locations (i.e. homeless shelters, soup kitchens, jail-release or diversion programs) with schizophrenia, recently released from incarceration, receiving PP1M once monthly or oAPs daily (N=444). Study Design/Methods
| Baseline Characteristics
Primary Analysis – Efficacy
Primary Analysis – Safety
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Randomized-Withdrawal Maintenance Study in Schizoaffective Disorder | |
Fu et al5,14 conducted an international, long-term, double-blind, PBO-controlled, randomized-withdrawal study of PP1M in patients with schizoaffective disorder. Dosing Schedule: 1-7-day screening period Oral tolerability testing if necessary 13-week, open-label, lead-in period PP1M (234 mg on day 1 and 156 mg on day 8 in the deltoid muscle, followed by flexible doses [78-234 mg] on days 36, 64, and 92), as monotherapy or as an adjunct to, stable doses of their adjunctive MS or AD medications.15 12-week, open-label, fixed-dose phase Patients who met predefined stabilization criteria (PANSS total score ≤70, YMRS total score ≤12, and HAM-D-21 total score ≤12 during the open-label phase are shown) received PP1M once every 4 weeks, at the final dose received during the lead-in period. The last dose of PP1M at the end of the open-label phase was 78 mg in 2.7% of patients, 117 mg in 7.3% of patients, 156 mg in 52.8% of patients, and 234 mg in 37.2% of patients. The mean average dose was similar for patients receiving adjunctive therapy and monotherapy. 15-month, double-blind phase Patients who maintained stability based on predefined criteria were randomized to PBO or a fixed dose of PP1M. PP1M dose distribution: 78 mg (4.9%), 117 mg (9.8%), 156 mg (47%) or 234 mg (38.4%) Primary Efficacy: Time to relapsea | Patient Characteristics
Open-Label 14
Double-Blind 5
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aRelapse was defined as the first occurrence of: psychiatric hospitalization due to worsening of symptoms; any intervention to avert imminent hospitalization due to worsening of symptoms, clinically significant self-injury, suicidal or homicidal ideation, or violent behaviors; worsening of ≥1 of the following PANSS items to a score ≥6 after randomization if the score was ≤4 at randomization: delusions, conceptual disorganization, hallucinatory behavior, excitement, suspiciousness/persecution, hostility, uncooperativeness or poor impulse control; worsening in any of the following measures at 2 consecutive visits within 7 days: ≥25% increase in PANSS total score from randomization if the score was >45 at randomization, ≥10-point increase in PANSS total score from randomization if the score was ≤45 at randomization, worsening of ≥1 of the following PANSS items to a score ≥5 after randomization if the score was ≤3 at randomization: delusions, conceptual disorganization, hallucinatory behavior, excitement, suspiciousness/persecution, hostility, uncooperativeness or poor impulse control; OR increase in Clinical Global Impression of Severity-Schizoaffective Disorder ([CGI-S-SCA) ≥2 points if the score at randomization was 1 (not ill) to 3 (mildly ill) OR increase ≥1 point if the score at randomization was ≥4 (moderately ill or worse) Abbreviations: AD, antidepressant; AE, adverse event; ARI, aripiprazole; CI, confidence interval; HAL, haloperidol; IM, intramuscular; ITT, intent-to-treat; LOCF, last observation carried forward; LS, least-squares; MS, mood stabilizer; oAP, oral antipsychotics; OLA, olanzapine; PAL, paliperidone; PP1M, paliperidone palmitate 1-month; PANSS, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale; PBO, placebo; PER, perphenazine; QUE, quetiapine; RIS, risperidone |
A 49-week, prospective, randomized, active-controlled trial evaluating the long-term effect of INVEGA SUSTENNA vs oral antipsychotics in patients with schizophrenia at risk for violent behavior (exhibiting destructive behavior or engaging in violent acts towards property or individuals within the past year) reported significant improvement in the risk assessment scores for aggressive behavior and psychopathological symptoms in the INVEGA SUSTENNA group with the identification of no additional safety signals.16
The European Long-acting Antipsychotics in Schizophrenia Trial (EULAST) was a randomized, open-label trial conducted in patients with early-phase schizophrenia (6 months to 7 years before screening) to compare antipsychotic long-acting injectables (LAIs) vs their oral equivalent medication. No significant differences in all-cause discontinuation or hospitalizations were reported over a 19-month follow-up period between antipsychotic LAIs, including INVEGA SUSTENNA, and oral antipsychotics.17
A literature search of MEDLINE®
Post-hoc analyses and review articles on paliperidone palmitate have not been included in this response.
1 | Carter NJ. Extended-release intramuscular paliperidone palmitate: a review of its use in the treatment of schizophrenia. Drugs. 2012;72(8):1137-1160. |
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