145 Incidence and Characteristics of Akathisia and Restlessness During Cariprazine Treatment for Bipolar I Disorder

Akathisia and restlessness are common adverse events associated with atypical antipsychotic use; in severe cases, symptoms may lead to treatment discontinuation. Cariprazine, a dopamine D3/D2 receptor partial agonist with preferential binding to D3 receptors, is approved for the treatment of schizophrenia (1.5-6 mg/d), and manic or mixed (3-6 mg/d) and depressive episodes (1.5-3 mg/d) associated with bipolar I disorder. Pooled post hoc analyses were conducted to characterize the incidence and severity of cariprazine-related akathisia and restlessness in patients who participated in bipolar disorder studies. All studies were Phase II/III multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group studies in patients with bipolar I disorder who were currently experiencing a manic/mixed (NCT00488618, NCT01058096, NCT01058668) or depressive (NCT01396447, NCT02670538, NCT02670551) mood episode. Patients received flexibly dosed cariprazine 3-12 mg/d (day 1: 1.5 mg; day 2: 3 mg; subsequent up-titration in 3-mg increments if needed) or placebo in the bipolar mania studies and fixed-dose cariprazine 1.5 mg/d, 3 mg/d (slow titration to 1.5 mg [day 8] and 3 mg [day 15] or initiation at 1.5 mg with escalation to 3 mg on day 15), or placebo in the bipolar depression studies. The incidence, severity, and timing of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) of akathisia and restlessness were evaluated in this analysis. In the bipolar mania studies (N=1065), TEAEs of akathisia occurred in 20.2% of cariprazine-treated patients and 4.8% of placebo-treated patients; 2.4% of cariprazine-treated patients discontinued due to akathisia. TEAEs of restlessness occurred in 6.7% and 2.3% of cariprazine- and placebo-treated patients, respectively, and caused discontinuation of 0.3% of cariprazine-treated patients. In the bipolar depression studies (N=1407), akathisia occurred in 2.1%, 5.5%, and 9.6% of patients in the placebo, cariprazine 1.5 mg/d, and cariprazine 3 mg/d groups, respectively; 92% in both populations). Most akathisia events in the bipolar mania studies were rep