Pharmacotherapy for schizophrenia: Long-acting injectable antipsychotic drugs

The unpleasant adverse effects of antipsychotic drugs combined with patients’ disbelief of having an illness, which is common among individuals with schizophrenia, result in high rates of nonadherence to antipsychotics in the treatment of schizophrenia.

Long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics are a pharmacologic strategy for treating patients with schizophrenia who relapse due to nonadherence to antipsychotic medication. Rather than the daily pill-taking required with oral antipsychotics, LAI antipsychotics are administered by injection at two- to four-week intervals.

This topic addresses the use of LAI antipsychotics in the treatment of schizophrenia. The pharmacology, administration, comparative side effects, and treatment of schizophrenia with standard (non-LAI) antipsychotics are discussed separately, as is the management of antipsychotic side effects. The epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and diagnosis of schizophrenia are reviewed separately.

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