Antipsychotics
At a glance
- Medicare prescriptions, 2024
- 19,139,914
- Medicare drug cost
- $1.51B
- Average cost per prescription
- $78.79
- Clinicians who prescribed it
- 175,814
Where it is prescribed
What these drugs are
Antipsychotics treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and some are added to treatment for depression.
Who prescribes it
- Psychiatry 26.3%
- Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners 21.0%
- Nurse Practitioners 13.7%
- Family Medicine 13.4%
- Internal Medicine 12.0%
- Physician Assistants 4.7%
- Neurology 1.9%
- Geriatric Medicine 1.9%
- Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 1.3%
- General Practice 1.0%
- Hospitalist 0.5%
- Hematology & Oncology 0.3%
Share of Medicare prescriptions written by each specialty.
Drugs in this group
| Drug | Prescriptions |
|---|---|
| Quetiapine Fumarate (Seroquel, Seroquel Xr) | 8,816,605 |
| Aripiprazole (Abilify Asimtufii, Abilify Maintena, Abilify) | 3,493,985 |
| Olanzapine (Zyprexa, Zyprexa Zydis) | 3,354,605 |
| Risperidone (Risperdal, Perseris, Uzedy) | 3,271,260 |
| Risperidone Microspheres (Risperdal Consta, Risperidone Er) | 84,298 |
| Aripiprazole Lauroxil (Aristada) | 63,377 |
| Olanzapine/Samidorphan Malate (Lybalvi) | 57,102 |
Drugs filled in fewer than 1,000 counties have no page of their own; their national totals are shown here.
Industry payments about this drug
Drug makers reported $19.4M in payments to clinicians that named this group of drugs in 2025 (meals, speaking, consulting and similar).
- Alkermes, Inc. $10.2M
- Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. $5.7M
- Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. $3.2M
- Lundbeck LLC $164,139
- H. Lundbeck A S $53,330
- Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. $33,862
- Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc $2,830
- AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP $1,333
Source: CMS Open Payments, general payments (not research), program year 2025. A payment is not evidence of wrongdoing. Payments by doctor
Recalls and shortages
Not on the FDA drug shortage list.
10 recalls since 2020
- Aug 2026 · Macleods Pharmaceuticals Limited · Class III
Failed Impurities/Degradation Specifications:Organic and unspecified impurities above specification. - May 2026 · Ajanta Pharma USA Inc · Class II
Product Mix-Up: A bottle containing Voriconazole Tablets 50 mg was labelled and distributed as Aripiprazole Tablets USP 30 mg. - Aug 2025 · Ascend Laboratories, LLC · Class II
Superpotent drug - Nov 2024 · Macleods Pharmaceuticals Ltd · Class II
Failed Impurities/Degradation Specifications - Apr 2024 · Second Tokushima Factory, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. · Class III
Cross Contamination with Other Products - Mar 2023 · Ascend Laboratories, LLC · Class II
Out of specification (OOS) for Spectroscopic Identification test by IR. - Feb 2023 · Accord Healthcare, Inc. · Class II
CGMP Deviations: recalling drug products following an FDA inspection. - Feb 2022 · Macleods Pharma Usa Inc · Class II
cGmp Deviations
Recalls usually affect specific lots from one maker, not every version of a drug. Class I is the most serious; most drug recalls are Class II. FDA recalls (opens in a new tab)
Industry-funded trials
- Study to Evaluate Weight Gain as Assessed by Change in BMI Z-score in Pediatric Subjects With Schizophrenia or Bipolar I Disorder Recruiting · Alkermes, Inc.
- Long-term Safety Extension Study of OLZ/SAM in Pediatric Subjects Enrolling by invitation · Alkermes, Inc.
- Study to Evaluate the Efficacy of ALKS 3831 on Body Weight in Young Adults Who Have Been Recently Diagnosed With Schizophrenia, Schizophreniform, or Bipolar I Disorder Completed · Alkermes, Inc.
Sources: CMS Medicare Part D Prescribers by Provider and Drug (2024; prescriptions include refills, and CMS hides counts under 11 per prescriber); U.S. Food and Drug Administration, openFDA (drug labels, NDC directory, enforcement reports, drug shortages); CMS Open Payments 2025; ClinicalTrials.gov. General information only, not medical advice; not yet reviewed by our medical reviewer.