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Pharma & Bio Ingredients
Cherri Miner, MD, Lilly U.S. medical director for Zyprexa said, "Lilly supports studies such as CATIE that add to the body of knowledge for enhancing the treatment of schizophrenia. However, as in every study or analysis, there are limitations that need to be recognized and understood. For example, the data was limited by a high drop-out rate and an inability to capture longer-term effects, and there was a need to statistically adjust for prior hospitalization because patients with prior hospitalizations are more likely to be hospitalized in the future.
Most importantly, the CATIE Cost Effectiveness Analysis findings with respect to perphenazine are specific to a unique patient group -- that is, schizophrenia patients treated with perphenazine at modest doses without pre-existing tardive dyskinesia. Therefore, the relevance of these findings to other typical antipsychotics is unknown as is the relevance to patients with pre-existing tardive dyskinesia, since they were not given perphenazine. It also is difficult to determine the clinical relevance of the perphenazine findings given how infrequently it is currently prescribed in the United States.
"In addition, we agree with the study's authors that cost-effectiveness analyses can inform policy discussions, but they should not necessarily translate into recommendations for clinical care or healthcare policy. While cost may be one of the considerations, it is not necessarily the only priority. Choosing a medication that will quickly and effectively reduce a patient's symptoms is of utmost importance. It is important for doctors and patients to have access to the entire spectrum of treatment options to find the medication that works best for each patient."
