A Study of Risperidone in Combination With Lorazepam Compared With Standard Therapy for Emergency Treatment of Schizophrenic Patients

January 13, 2011 updated by: Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., Belgium

Comparison of Oral Risperdal in Combination With Oral Lorazepam vs Standard Care Including Initial Conventional Neuroleptic IM Treatment, in Acute Schizophrenic Patients

The purpose of the study is to show that risperidone (an antipsychotic medication) combined with lorazepam (an anti-anxiety medication) is more effective than conventional therapy administered by intramuscular injection for emergency treatment of patients with schizophrenia.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Patients with acute schizophrenia are often anxious and uncertain because of the psychotic symptoms they are experiencing. These patients are in need of rapid help and symptom relief. Risperidone, a widely used antipsychotic medication, is effective against positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, has a rapid onset of action, a low incidence of extrapyramidal symptoms, and, in general, mild adverse events. This is an open-label trial of 2 mg dose of an oral formulation of risperidone in combination with 2 to 2.5 mg of oral lorazepam compared with standard care, which consists of a conventional neuroleptic drug administered via an intramuscular injection, with or without lorazepam. Patients requiring emergency care are offered a choice of these two therapies and are monitored for 24 hours after initial treatment. Optional follow up may be performed after 2, 3, and 7 days. The primary measure of effectiveness is the success of the treatment 2 hours after the drug is administered, as indicated by the patient being asleep or by showing improvement on the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Improvement subscale. Additional effectiveness assessments include an evaluation of hostility and agitation, as assessed by Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the degree of sedation, and the ability of the patient to interact with the physician at 1, 2, and 24 hours after the start of treatment. Safety assessments include the incidence of adverse events throughout the treatment and follow up periods. The study hypothesis is that oral risperidone combined with lorazepam is more effective than therapy with conventional neuroleptic intramuscular agents, with or without lorazepam, for emergency treatment of patients with schizophrenia. Single, oral 2 mg dose of risperidone and a single, oral 2 to 2.5 mg dose of lorazepam; further dosing during the 24 hour period at investigator's discretion. Comparator drug of choice (with or without lorazepam) administered intramuscularly according to product labeling.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

226

Phase

  • Phase 4

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

16 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Psychotic patients with schizophrenia who require rapid intervention
  • experiencing symptoms of a psychotic disorder
  • capable of choosing to be treated

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with a known hypersensitivity to the study drugs
  • have participated in an investigational drug trial within 30 days of study initiation
  • known to be unresponsive to treatment with risperidone or the comparator drug
  • known to have benzodiazepine dependence (addiction to this class of anti-anxiety drugs)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Treatment success, 2 hours after drug administration, indicated by patient being asleep or by improvement on Clinical Global Improvement (CGI) scale.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Hostility and agitation (as assessed by BPRS), degree of sedation, and ability to interact with physician at 0, 1, 2, and 24 hours; Clinical Global Impression (CGI) - Improvement subscale at 1 and 24 hours; adverse events throughout the study.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., Belgium

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

June 1, 2001

Primary Completion

December 7, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

February 1, 2003

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 4, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 4, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

November 7, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 14, 2011

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 13, 2011

Last Verified

January 1, 2011

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CR003175

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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