Still in development
Commenting on the findings, René S. Kahn, MD, PhD, chair of the department of psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, noted that, although the results showed that the drug had a “nice effect” on negative symptoms, it’s still in development.
Courtesy Mount Sinai Health System
Dr. René S. Kahn
Dr. Kahn, who was not involved in the research, said “we’ve all seen” drugs that were extremely promising in phase 2 trials that have then failed in phase 3 trials. he added.
“Obviously I hope it’s going to work out, because we are in desperate need of new drugs, especially with a new mechanism of action and not ‘me too’ drugs. And this definitely not a ‘me too’ drug,” Dr. Kahn said. However, “we’ll have to wait.”
He noted that psychosis is often the primary focus of schizophrenia management. However, he added, cognitive and negative symptoms are also “very relevant” to the disorder.
“In fact, both of them may be more important in determining the long-term outcome of schizophrenia than psychosis, [and] most of the antipsychotics that we currently have are not very effective against negative symptoms,” he said.
“So it would really be a breakthrough if we have a drug that is really effective not only against positive psychotic symptoms, but also against negative and possibly cognitive, symptoms,” Dr. Kahn added.
Commenting on the drug’s safety, Dr. Kahn said there is a need for head-to-head studies of active drugs before any firm conclusions can be drawn.
However, he noted the exploratory analysis suggests it has a different side effect profile, compared with other medications on the market.
The study was supported by Sunovion Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Koblan and his coinvestigators are employees of Sunovion.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.