Phase II results appear promising for a new combination treatment for schizophrenia.
Findings from previous studies have shown that the muscarinic receptor agonist xanomeline could be used as a novel way to treat psychosis that patients experience during both Alzheimer s disease and schizophrenia, but there has been concern about the accompanying severe gastrointestinal side effects, including vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea.
For the new trial, researchers from Karuna Therapeutics in Boston decided to pair xanomeline with another drug, trospium, an antagonist of muscarinic receptors. Steven Paul, MD, Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, and co-authors hypothesized that combining the drugs could lessen xanomeline s typical side effects in treating schizophrenia.