1. Patients in the KarXT (xanomeline–trospium) group reported a significant reduction in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) score compared to those in the placebo group. 2. Majority of adverse events were mild-to-moderate, with no treatment-related fatalities or increase in extrapyramidal motor symptoms. Evidence Rating Level: 1 (Excellent) Study Rundown: Current antipsychotic therapies for schizophrenia
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PureTech Health plc (Nasdaq: PRTC, LSE: PRTC) (“PureTech” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company dedicated to discovering, developing and commercializing highly differentiated medicines for devastating diseases, is pleased to note that its Founded Entity, Karuna Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: KRTX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company driven to create and deliver transformative medicines for people living with psychiatric and neurological conditions, announced that results from the EMERGENT-1 Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating KarXT for the treatment of schizophrenia were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
The published manuscript titled “Muscarinic Cholinergic Receptor Agonist and Peripheral Antagonist for Schizophrenia” is available online and appears in the February 25, 2021 issue of
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.