Matsuzaki H, Hatano M, Iwata M, et al. - Asenapine, a second-generation antipsychotic agent, is classified as a multi-acting receptor-targeted antipsychotic and is identified as similar to olanzapine. Researchers aimed to compare the treatment continuation rate and reason for discontinuation of asenapine vs olanzapine in schizophrenia using real-world data.

• A retrospective study including 95 patients (asenapine, n = 46; olanzapine, n = 49).

• The asenapine group and the olanzapine group had the continuation rates of 27.3% and 50.8%, respectively, at 6 months.

• Because of the lack of efficacy, discontinuation rate for asenapine (13.0%) and olanzapine (10.2%) were almost similar.

• Only asenapine group had discontinuations due to bitter taste (6.5%) and burden of the dosing method (6.5%), whereas only olanzapine had anticholinergic side effects such as dry mouth (4.1%) and constipation (2.0%).