Johnson & Johnson thinks a longer-acting treatment against schizophrenia will help keep patients on their prescriptions and reduce their chances of a relapse. Now, with a FDA nod under its belt, the company is pushing Invega Hafyera as just the med to fit the bill.

The FDA Wednesday approved J&J’s long-acting schizophrenia drug, previously known as paliperidone palmitate, for injection every six months. It’s the first and only twice-yearly med for the condition.

The new long-acting regime joins J&J’s existing one-month and three-month formulations, dubbed Invega Sustenna and Invega Trinza, respectively, plus a two-week injection known as Risperdal Consta.

Paliperidone, the active ingredient in the Invega products, is also sold in a daily tablet form as Invega. Oral antipsychotics are still the most commonly prescribed treatment against the condition, which is characterized by distortions in someone’s thinking, perception, emotions and behavior.

But as J&J sees it, longer-acting injectables reduce the risk of patients forgetting to take a daily pill, which could lead to a schizophrenia episode and relapse. It’s thought that roughly half of patients who suffer from chronic schizophrenia stop taking their prescriptions after six months of treatment, J&J says.

FROM: Fierce Pharma