• ABILIFY extended-release injectable suspension, for intramuscular use, is administered to the patient just once every four weeks. It first became available to patients in the US in March 2013 and subsequently became available in 19 European countries, Canada, Australia and now Japan.
• There are approximately 710,000 people in Japan with schizophrenia. Ongoing drug therapy is required to prevent patients with schizophrenia from relapsing; however patient adherence to oral tablet therapies declines noticeably after one week following discharge from the hospital. By the sixth month following discharge, over 40% of patients on oral anti-schizophrenia therapies are judged to have poor drug compliance according to one study, suggesting that their treating physicians are hoping for improvements.
• The injectable form of ABILFY was developed with the aim of preventing relapse by those patients who are prone when taking oral anti-schizophrenia therapies. Due to ABILIFY's confirmed efficacy and excellent safety profile, the long-acting injectable form has become a new treatment option for consideration by physicians and their patients.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. markets ABILIFY (generic name is aripiprazole), a product with a demonstrated efficacy and safety profile, in 60 countries and regions around the world. Effective May 25, a new dosage form of ABILIFY with the same demonstrated efficacy and safety for schizophrenia patients, ABILIFY extended-release injectable suspension, for intramuscular use, has gone on sale in Japan in 300 and 400 mg vials and in 300 mg and 400 mg pre-filled syringes. It is the first long-acting, partial dopamine agonist injectable available in Japan. The two alternative formulations are the vial (freeze-dried preparation) and the pre-filled, dual chamber syringe that contains the freeze-dried preparation and water for injection in one simple-to-use syringe kit.