New Schizophrenia Drug Will Likely Have Familiar Coverage

September 23

Earlier this month, the FDA approved a drug that the manufacturer touts as “the first-and-only twice-yearly injectable for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults.” Drug benefits experts say it could be a good option for patients who have previously been on extended-release drugs for the schizophrenia — with careful monitoring — and will likely be covered similar to existing long-acting treatments.

The drug is called Invega Hafyera (six-month paliperidone palmitate), a product produced by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson unit. It received FDA clearance on Sept. 1 after a randomized, double-blind, non-inferiority Phase III global study that enrolled 702 adults living with schizophrenia from 20 countries, which found that 92.5% of patients treated with Invega Hafyera were relapse-free at 12 months.

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Radar on Drug Benefits

Leslie Small

Leslie has been working in journalism since 2009 and reporting on the health care industry since 2014. She has covered the many ups and downs of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the failed health insurer mega-mergers, and hundreds of other storylines spanning subjects such as Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored insurance, and prescription drug coverage. As the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits, she writes and edits for both publications while overseeing a small team of reporters who also focus on the managed care sector. Before joining AIS Health, she was a senior editor for the e-newsletter Fierce Health Payer, and she started her career as a copy editor at multiple local newspapers. She graduated with a dual degree in journalism and political science from Penn State University.