Janssen reveals new data on Xeplion in various stages of schizophrenia

US health care giant Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE: JNJ) Europe-based subsidiary JanssenPharmaceutica presented new data on the company’s schizophrenia drug Xeplion (paliperidone palmitate), showing that earlier treatment can play a substantial role in improving outcomes in people with schizophrenia, during The German Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatic Medicine and Neurology (DGPPN) congress that took place last week in Berlin.

Data from the PALMFlexS study showed flexible maintenance dosing with was associated with a clinically relevant treatment response, and was well tolerated in both acute and non-acute patients with schizophrenia. Patients in the study had previously been unsuccessfully treated with either oral or long-acting antipsychotics.

Xeplion, developed with USA-based Alkermes (Nasdaq: ALKS) and also sold under the brand name Invega Sustenna outside Europe, generated sales of 898 million for the first nine months of 2013, a 58% on the like year-earlier period.