A Review of Clinical and Economic Evaluations Applied to Psychotropic Therapies Used in the Treatment of Schizophrenia in Argentina

Schizophrenia is considered a serious mental disorder that affects over 21 million people worldwide, and is associated with disability that frequently affects the patient’s educational and working performance. In Argentina, two of the most widely used antipsychotics in the treatment of this disorder are haloperidol and risperidone. Both are provided free to patients without health coverage in public healthcare facilities. In this paper we seek to review the clinical and economic benefits of prescribing psychotropic therapies based on haloperidol (a first-generation antipsychotic that is part of the butyrophenone group of drugs) versus risperidone [an atypical or second-generation antipsychotic (neuroleptic) drug] in adult patients who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. To achieve this objective, an exhaustive search of relevant articles published between 2006 and April 2017 was conducted. This literature search showed that intermittent treatment usually fails to prevent relapses due to irregular protection, therefore continuous treatment is more effective. Although the injectable formats of both drugs [haloperidol depot and long-acting injectable risperidone (LAIR)] have not proven to have significant differences with regard to clinical effectiveness vis-à-vis the tablet formats, they showed a lower cost-effectiveness ratio by reducing patients’ relapses. Moreover, LAIR exhibits superior cost effectiveness compared with haloperidol depot. Haloperidol is less expensive than risperidone but is less cost effective; in comparison with haloperidol, treatment with risperidone produces (1) an improvement in quality-adjusted life-years, and (2) a significant reduction in negative symptoms. In most cases, antipsychotic treatments are effective in controlling the positive and negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia, allowing patients to live in their communities without any impairments. However, it is extremely important to combine pharmacological treatment with other measures that constitute psychosocial therapy.