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During antipsychotic treatment, improvement in the patient's clinical condition may take several days to some weeks. Patients should be closely monitored during this period.
Dementia-related psychosis and/or behavioural disturbances: Olanzapine is not recommended for use in patients with dementia-related psychosis and/or behavioural disturbances because of an increase in mortality and the risk of cerebrovascular accident.
Parkinson's disease: The use of olanzapine in the treatment of dopamine agonist associated psychosis in patients with Parkinson's disease is not recommended.
Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS): NMS is a potentially life-threatening condition associated with antipsychotic medicinal products.
Rare cases reported as NMS have also been received in association with olanzapine. Clinical manifestations of NMS are hyperpyrexia, muscle rigidity, altered mental status, and evidence of autonomic instability (irregular pulse or blood pressure, tachycardia, diaphoresis, and cardiac dysrhythmia). Additional signs may include elevated creatine phosphokinase, myoglobinuria (rhabdomyolysis), and acute renal failure. If a patient develops signs and symptoms indicative of NMS, or presents with unexplained high fever without additional clinical manifestations of NMS, all antipsychotic medicines, including olanzapine must be discontinued.
Hyperglycaemia and diabetes: Hyperglycaemia and/or development or exacerbation of diabetes, occasionally associated with ketoacidosis or coma, has been reported uncommonly, including some fatal cases. In some cases, a prior increase in body weight has been reported, which may be a predisposing factor. Appropriate clinical monitoring is advisable in accordance with utilised antipsychotic guidelines, e.g., measuring of blood glucose at baseline, 12 weeks after starting olanzapine treatment and annually thereafter. Patients treated with any antipsychotic medicines, including Olanzapine, should be observed for signs and symptoms of hyperglycaemia (such as polydipsia, polyuria, polyphagia, and weakness) and patients with diabetes mellitus or with risk factors for diabetes mellitus should be monitored regularly for worsening of glucose control. Weight should be monitored regularly, e.g., at baseline, 4, 8 and 12 weeks after starting olanzapine treatment and quarterly thereafter.
Lipid alterations: Undesirable alterations in lipids have been observed in olanzapine-treated patients. Lipid alterations should be managed as clinically appropriate, particularly in dyslipidaemia patients and in patients with risk factors for the development of lipids disorders. Patients treated with any antipsychotic medicines, including Olanzapine, should be monitored regularly for lipids in accordance with utilised antipsychotic guidelines, e.g., at baseline, 12 weeks after starting olanzapine treatment and every 5 years thereafter.
Anticholinergic activity: While olanzapine demonstrated anticholinergic activity in vitro, experience during the clinical trials revealed a low incidence of related events. However, as clinical experience with olanzapine in patients with concomitant illness is limited, caution is advised when prescribing for patients with prostatic hypertrophy, or paralytic ileus and related conditions.
Hepatic function: Transient, asymptomatic elevations of hepatic aminotransferases, ALT, AST have been seen commonly, especially in early treatment. Caution should be exercised and follow-up organised in patients with elevated ALT and/or AST, in patients with signs and symptoms of hepatic impairment, in patients with pre-existing conditions associated with limited hepatic functional reserve, and in patients who are being treated with potentially hepatotoxic medicines. In cases where hepatitis (including hepatocellular, cholestasis or mixed liver injury) has been diagnosed, olanzapine treatment should be discontinued.
Neutropenia: Caution should be exercised in patients with low leukocyte and/or neutrophil counts for any reason, in patients receiving medicines known to cause neutropenia, in patients with a history of drug-induced bone marrow depression/toxicity, in patients with bone marrow depression caused by concomitant illness, radiation therapy or chemotherapy and in patients with hyper eosinophilic conditions or with myeloproliferative disease. Neutropenia has been reported commonly when olanzapine and valproate are used concomitantly.
Discontinuation of treatment: Acute symptoms such as sweating, insomnia, tremor, anxiety, nausea, or vomiting have been reported rarely (≥ 0.01 % and < 0.1 %) when olanzapine is stopped abruptly.
QT interval: Caution should be exercised when olanzapine is prescribed with medicines known to increase QTc interval, especially in the elderly, in patients with congenital long QT syndrome, congestive heart failure, heart hypertrophy, hypokalaemia or hypomagnesaemia.
Thromboembolism: Temporal association of olanzapine treatment and venous thromboembolism has been reported uncommonly (≥ 0.1% and < 1%). A causal relationship between the occurrences of venous thromboembolism and treatment with olanzapine has not been established. However, since patients with schizophrenia often present with acquired risk factors for venous thromboembolism, all possible risk factors of VTE e.g., immobilisation of patients, should be identified and preventive measures undertaken.
General CNS activity: Given the primary CNS effects of olanzapine, caution should be used when it is taken in combination with other centrally acting medicines and alcohol. As it exhibits in vitro dopamine antagonism, olanzapine may antagonise the effects of direct and indirect dopamine agonists.
Seizures: Olanzapine should be used cautiously in patients who have a history of seizures or are subject to factors which may lower the seizure threshold. Seizures have been reported to occur uncommonly in patients when treated with olanzapine.
Tardive dyskinesia: Olanzapine was associated with a statistically significant lower incidence of treatment-emergent dyskinesia. However, the risk of tardive dyskinesia increases with long-term exposure, and therefore if signs or symptoms of tardive dyskinesia appear in a patient on olanzapine, a dose reduction or discontinuation should be considered. These symptoms can temporally deteriorate or even arise after discontinuation of treatment.
Postural hypotension: Postural hypotension was infrequently observed in the elderly in olanzapine clinical trials. It is recommended that blood pressure is measured periodically in patients over 65 years.
Sudden cardiac death: In postmarketing reports with olanzapine, the event of sudden cardiac death has been reported in patients with olanzapine. In a retrospective observational cohort study, the risk of presumed sudden cardiac death in patients treated with olanzapine was approximately twice the risk in patients not using antipsychotics. In the study, the risk of olanzapine was comparable to the risk of atypical antipsychotics included in a pooled analysis.
Lactose: Olanzapine (Olavex) tablets contain lactose. Patients with rare hereditary problems of galactose intolerance, the Lapp lactase deficiency or glucose-galactose malabsorption should not take this medicine.
Use in Children: Olanzapine is not indicated for use in the treatment of children and adolescents. Studies in patients aged 13-17 years showed various adverse reactions, including weight gain, changes in metabolic parameters and increases in prolactin levels.
