Acceptability and disintegration rates of orally disintegrating risperidone tablets in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the disintegration profile, acceptability, and tolerability of orally disintegrating risperidone tablets in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. METHOD: Ten patients stable for at least 10 days on monotherapy with oral risperidone 2 mg to 4 mg taken once daily were switched for 7 days to an equivalent dosage of orally disintegrating risperidone. Visual assessments for time to initial and complete disintegration were collected at each visit. Clinical Global Impression of Severity scores were collected at baseline and at the last visit. Patient acceptance of the new formulation, rated according to a visual analog scale, was obtained at the last visit. RESULTS: All patients maintained stable clinical status. Mean time to initial disintegration was 5.1 seconds, SD 0.8, and mean time to complete disintegration was 29.4 seconds, SD 18.4. The formulation was rated as very acceptable. Adverse events were reported by 5 patients; all were mild. CONCLUSION: The orally disintegrating risperidone tablets were well tolerated and rated as very acceptable by all patients.