Karuna’s schiz­o­phre­nia drug clears an­oth­er PhI­II as biotech seeks 2024 launch

Karuna Ther­a­peu­tics said its in­ves­ti­ga­tion­al schiz­o­phre­nia treat­ment cleared the bar in an­oth­er Phase III clin­i­cal tri­al, which the biotech hopes will open the doors for a new class of med­ica­tion for the mil­lions of peo­ple liv­ing with the dis­or­der as it tees up a mid-2023 ap­proval re­quest.

The Boston biotech’s KarXT drug showed a sta­tis­ti­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant and clin­i­cal­ly mean­ing­ful re­duc­tion in symp­toms com­pared to place­bo on the main study goal in pa­tients with schiz­o­phre­nia, Karuna said be­fore Mon­day’s open­ing bell. The de­sign of the 256-pa­tient Phase III EMER­GENT-3 was es­sen­tial­ly a “car­bon copy” of the com­pa­ny’s two oth­er Phase III and Phase II stud­ies of the drug, CEO and pres­i­dent Bill Meury told End­points News on Sun­day af­ter­noon, in a pre­view of the da­ta drop.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER