Switching to iloperidone: An omnibus of clinically relevant observations from a 12-week, open-label, randomized clinical trial in 500 persons with schizophrenia.

Objective: To describe secondary analyses from a 12-week, randomized, open-label trial where adult schizophrenia outpatients receiving risperidone, olanzapine, or aripiprazole were switched to iloperidone. Methods: Patients were randomized into two groups: one where the antecedent antipsychotic dose was titrated downwards to zero over 2 weeks (n=240), and the other group where the antecedent antipsychotic was abruptly stopped (n=260). Adaptations of the Clinical Global Impression scale were used to evaluate clinical changes. Other assessments included the reporting of adverse events (AEs), study discontinuation, body weight, and metabolic variables. Results: Improvement was steady throughout the study for both gradual- and immediate-switch groups starting at Week 1 and continuing through Week 12. Discontinuations due to AEs in the first 2 weeks of treatment were higher for the immediate-switch group compared with the gradual-switch group (10.8% vs. 5.4%, NNT 19, 95% CI 10-151). Fewer patients in the gradu...