Symptomatic and Functional Response to Brexpiprazole Treatment in Patients With Acute Schizophrenia by Age

Introduction: The efficacy and safety of brexpiprazole in the treatment of schizophrenia have been demonstrated in short- and long-term studies. This post-hoc analysis assessed the proportion of patients achieving symptomatic and functional response, stratified by patients’ age at baseline.

Methods: Data were pooled from three 6-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies in hospitalized patients with acute exacerbation of schizophrenia (Vector [NCT01396421]; Beacon [NCT01393613]; Lighthouse [NCT01810380]) and stratified according to baseline age (18–35 years; 36–65 years). Symptomatic response was defined by: ≥30% reduction in PANSS-Total score; a CGI-I score of 1 or 2 (much improved or improved); or ≥30% reduction in PANSS-Total score OR CGI-I score of 1 or 2. Functional response was defined by: ≥10 point increase in PSP-Total score. MMRM analyses were conducted across brexpiprazole doses (2–4 mg/day).

Results: The analyses included 557 patients aged 18–35, and 857 aged 36–65. For patients aged 18–35, a statistically significantly greater proportion of brexpiprazole-treated vs placebo-treated patients had symptomatic response after 6 weeks’ treatment (PANSS-Total: 40.5% vs 28.7%, p<0.01; CGI-I: 39.9% vs 25.4%, p<0.001; PANSS-Total OR CGI-I: 46.2% vs 32.3%, p<0.01). Similar results were observed for patients aged 36–65. The results for functional response followed a similar pattern.The proportion of patients meeting both symptomatic and functional response was statistically significantly greater in brexpiprazole-treated patients vs placebo-treated patients, regardless of the age group.

Conclusion: Short-term treatment with brexpiprazole provides symptomatic and functional response in acutely ill younger (18–35 years) and older (36–65 years) schizophrenia patients.