Background
hypoesthesia, depressive, schizophrenia
Antipsychotics are essential in the acute treatment of and maintenance therapy for schizophrenia. Maintenance of antipsychotic drugs not only prevents relapses and rehospitalizations, but also benefits patients in terms of quality of life [Each antipsychotic has a unique safety profile that may affect adherence. Asenapine is the only sublingual antipsychotic approved (in 2009) by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A network meta-analysis of 32 oral antipsychotics reported that asenapine is effective against the positive, negative, and depressive symptoms associated with schizophrenia [Asenapine has unique oral-related side effects, such as the bitter taste caused by sublingual administration, so some patients with schizophrenia are reluctant to take it. For example, approximately 10% of patients reported experiencing oral hypoesthesia [Reducing the bitter taste of pharmaceutical preparations is widely accepted as a way of improving patient adherence and compliance to a therapeutic drug regimen [