Zyprexa vs. Geodon
This article was originally published in Pharmaceutical Approvals Monthly
Executive Summary
Lilly claims long-term use of its atypical antipsychotic Zyprexa (olanzapine) yields greater efficacy than Pfizer's Geodon (ziprasidone), based on a 28-week, head-to-head study presented March 30 at the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research. The 548-patient, double-blind, flexible-dose study found long-term Zyprexa resulted in significantly better improvement for the study's primary endpoint, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (p<0.001), and significantly more patients responded positively to treatment (58.6% vs. 42.5%). A study poster reports that "although [Zyprexa] patients had greater weight gain and elevated lipids, [Geodon] patients experienced significantly more adverse events," and a greater proportion of Geodon patients required a dose reduction due to side effects (26.9% vs. 14.8%