an efficacy and safety study of paliperidone extended-release (er) tablets in participants with schizophrenia

Conditions: Schizophrenia

Summary: the purpose of this study is to evaluate the tolerability, safety and treatment response of flexible doses of paliperidone extended-release (er; designed to slowly release a drug in the body over an extended period of time) tablets in participants with acute schizophrenia (psychiatric disorder with symptoms of emotional instability, detachment from reality, often with delusions and hallucinations, and withdrawal into the self).

this is an open-label (all people know the identity of the intervention), single-arm (getting one dose of medicine), multi-center (conducted in more than 1 center) study to evaluate tolerability, safety and efficacy of flexible daily doses of paliperidone er in participants with acute schizophrenia. all participants will be given paliperidone er once daily at a dose of 3, 6, 9, or 12 milligram (mg) tablets orally depending on investigator's discretion, based on participant's clinical response and tolerability towards paliperidone er. the duration of the core phase of the treatment will be 6 weeks and the participants who will complete this phase, respond well and would like to continue, will be eligible to be enrolled in an extension phase, which is no longer than 12 months. efficacy will primarily be evaluated by treatment response evaluated through total positive and negative syndrome scale (panss) score. participants' safety will be monitored throughout the study.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * meets the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edition (dsm-iv) criteria for schizophrenia * must be experiencing an acute schizophrenic episode with a positive and negative syndrome scale (panss) total score of greater than or equal to 70 at baseline * must be admitted to hospital for treatment of the acute schizophrenic episode and must agree for voluntary hospitalization for at least the first 7 days of the study * female participants must be postmenopausal (for at least 1 year), surgically sterile, abstinent, or, if sexually active, be practicing and effective method of birth control (example, prescription oral contraceptives, contraceptive injections, intrauterine device, double-barrier method, contraceptive patch, male partner sterilization) before entry and throughout the study and female participants of child-bearing potential must have a negative urine pregnancy test at screening * participants or their legally acceptable representatives must have signed an informed consent document indicating that they understand the purpose of and procedures required for the study and are willing to participate in the study exclusion criteria: * pregnant or breast-feeding female participants * first antipsychotic treatment ever * have received an experimental drug or used an experimental medical device within 30 days before the planned start of treatment and on clozapine or a long-acting injectable antipsychotic during the last 3 months * known hypersensitivity to paliperidone extended-release (er) or risperidone * relevant history of any significant or unstable cardiovascular, respiratory, neurologic (including seizures or significant cerebrovascular), renal, hepatic, endocrine, or immunologic diseases, history or current symptoms of tardive dyskinesia or neuroleptic malignant syndrome including recent or present clinically relevant laboratory abnormalities (as deemed by the investigator) and participants with current or known history (over the past 6 months) of substance dependence according to dsm-iv criteria

Keywords: schizophrenia paliperidone extended release (er) invega