FDA expands use of Vraylar to treatment of bipolar-associated depressive episodes

The Food and Drug Administration on May 28 approved a supplemental New Drug Application for cariprazine (Vraylar) for the treatment of depressive episodes associated with bipolar I disorder.

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Approval for the expanded label was based on results of the RGH-MD-53, RGH-MD-54, and RGH-MD-56 clinical trials, in which cariprazine was compared with placebo over a 6-week period in patients with bipolar I disorder. In all three trials, patients receiving 1.5 mg cariprazine had significantly greater improvement in their Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating scale after 6 weeks, compared with patients receiving placebo.

Cariprazine previously was indicated for the treatment of manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder in adults. The most common adverse reactions reported in the clinical trials were nausea, akathisia, restlessness, and extrapyramidal symptoms; these symptoms are similar to those on the Vraylar label.

“Treating bipolar disorder can be very difficult, because people living with the illness experience a range of depressive and manic symptoms, sometimes both at the same time, and this FDA approval gives health care providers a new option to treat the full spectrum of bipolar I disorder symptoms, specifically manic, mixed, and depressive episodes, with just one medication,” Stephen M. Stahl, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, said in the press release.

Find the full press release on the Allergan website.

lfranki@mdedge.com