Paliperidone palmitate long-acting injection (PPLAI) is an atypical antipsychotic agent currently approved by the European Medicine Agency for the acute and maintenance treatment of schizophrenia in adults. However, there is no information so far on safety and effectiveness in patients under 18 years of age. We report on two clinical cases of adolescents with a psychotic spectrum disorder treated with PPLAI in an inpatient setting. The cases illustrate that PPLAI may hold potential as an effective and acceptably tolerated antipsychotic drug in adolescents with psychotic spectrum disorders. Given the lack of approved long acting injectable antipsychotics in patients under 18 years of age, reports on the effectiveness and safety of such medications in children and adolescent patients are of importance.
Keywords: antipsychotics; child and adolescent psychiatry; psychotic spectrum disorders.