Olanzapine Pharmacokinetics: A Clinical Review of Current Insights and Remaining Questions

Abstract

Olanzapine is one of the most widely used antipsychotics since its initial approval by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1996 and has undergone extensive pharmacokinetic study. Despite being utilized in clinical psychiatry for decades, there remain questions regarding the variety of available formulations, the utility of therapeutic drug monitoring, altered kinetic properties in special populations/medical illnesses, the use of high-dose olanzapine, and drug interactions, among many others. We performed a narrative literature review of olanzapine pharmacokinetics in June 2023 using the US National Library of Medicine’s PubMed.gov resource ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed ) and Google Scholar. Herein, we review clinically relevant aspects of olanzapine pharmacokinetic data while highlighting knowledge gaps and potential areas of future study.