Orally disintegrating olanzapine review: effectiveness, patient preference, adherence, and other properties

William Montgomery¹, Tamas Treuer², Jamie Karagianis³, Haya Ascher-Svanum⁴, Gavan Harrison^5
1Global Health Outcomes, Eli Lilly and Company, Sydney, Australia; ²Emerging Markets Business Unit (Neuroscience), Eli Lilly and Company, Budapest, Hungary; ³Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA; ⁴Global Health Outcomes, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA; ⁵Asia-Pacific Medical Communications, Eli Lilly and Company, Sydney, Australia

Abstract: Orally disintegrating olanzapine (ODO) is a rapid-dissolving formulation of olanzapine which disintegrates in saliva almost immediately, developed as a convenient and adherence-enhancing alternative to the standard olanzapine-coated tablet (SOT). Clinical studies, which form the basis of this review, have shown ODO and SOT to have similar efficacy and tolerability profiles. However, ODO appears to have a number of advantages over SOT in terms of adherence, patient preference, and reduction in nursing burden. Overall, the existing clinical data suggests that compared to SOT, ODO is not only well-suited for difficult-to-treat, agitated, and/or nonadherent patients but, due to its potential ability to improve adherence and greater patient preference, may also be an appropriate formulation for the majority of patients for which olanzapine is the antipsychotic of choice.

Keywords: orodispersible formulation, orally disintegrating, olanzapine, atypical antipsychotics, patient adherence, preference, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder