Risperidone: An assessment of its economic benefits in the treatment of schizophrenia

Summary A variety of economic studies have been carried out in Europe, North America and Australia. Risperidone is dominant over haloperidol, providing both an improvement in patient benefit and decreasing direct medical costs. These effects are most marked in patients who continue risperidone treatment. Treatment failures need more study, but the costs of therapeutic trial are low enough to recommend risperidone in preference to conventional antipsychotics for patients requiring new or alternative treatment for schizophrenia. Much of the evidence for the economic benefits of risperidone comes from studies with historical controls in treatment resistant or treatment intolerant patients. The biggest contributor to the economic impact of risperidone is the reduction in hospital stay resulting from treatment with the drug. More long-term work is required with parallel control groups and also with less severely ill patients.