According to a press release, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) did not accept aripiprazole for the treatment of manic episodes in bipolar I disorder and for the prevention of new manic episodes.
According to the SMC, the manufacturer did not present a sufficiently robust economic analysis to gain acceptance.
Psychiatrist Daniel Carlat from “The Carlat Psychiatry Blog” refers to aripiprazole as “ the antipsychotic most likely to cause akathisia”.
The video below is the US TV ad for Abilify. As you can see, there is an aggressive marketing campaign to promote aripiprazole as a medication in bipolar disorder, targeted both to prescribers and patients.
As related information, SMC previously reviewed aripiprazole for agitation control in patients with schizophrenia and accepted the IM formulation use only if oral therapy is not appropriate.