The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7175 p733-738
24 November 2001

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Compliance rates better for quetiapine than other atypicals

Patients receiving antipsychotic therapy for the first time who are prescribed quetiapine (Seroquel) are more likely to continue with their treatment than if they are prescribed other atypical antipsychotics, say researchers.

In a retrospective study supported by AstraZeneca, manufacturer of Seroquel, patients prescribed quetiapine as monotherapy were matched with controls prescribed risperidone, haloperidol, or other atypical antipsychotics (clozapine or olanzapine). The researchers found that after one year's treatment, 35.4 per cent of patients continued on quetiapine monotherapy compared with 13.4 per cent of patients on haloperidol (P<0.01), 31.4 per cent receiving risperidone (P=0.37) and 26.1 per cent of patients receiving other atypicals (P=0.01).

Patients receiving quetiapine remained on therapy for a median of 220 days compared with 159 days for risperidone patients (P=0.02), 126 days for olanzapine patients (P<0.01), and 90 days for haloperidol patients (P<0.01).

The results of the study were presented at the ISPOR (International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research) annual European congress in Cannes, France earlier this month.

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