Psychiatry in the News: October 2023

Experts discussed a wide variety of psychiatric disorders, treatments, and issues at the 2023 Annual Psychiatric Times World CME Conference from October 19 to 21. Here’s more news you may have missed from the world of psychiatry throughout the month of October, as featured in Psychiatric Times.

Study Shows 40% of Patients With TRS No Longer Meet Severity Criteria Following Treatment With NCE

A study of a new chemical entity (NCE) for treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) found that 40% of patients improved to the point of no longer meeting TRS severity criteria after 6 months of treatment.

Study 014/015—a 6-week, randomized, rater-blinded study by Newron Pharmaceuticals—evaluated the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of evenamide, an investigational NCE for the management of TRS. For study 014, investigators recruited a total of 161 patients with TRS who were consistently administered a therapeutic dose of a single antipsychotic medication, excluding clozapine, with the primary aim of assessing the safety and tolerability of orally administered evenamide at 3 predefined doses: 7.5 mg, 15 mg, and 30 mg twice a day. Continue Reading

Study Finds Connection Between Olanzapine/Samidorphan and Reduced Health Care Utilization in Patients With Schizophrenia, Bipolar I

A study found that a combination of olanzapine and samidorphan (OLZ/SAM) can help reduce health care resource utilization in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder.

The study, which was sponsored by Alkermes Inc and shared in a poster presentation at Psych Congress 2023, is the first to assess the efficacy of OLZ/SAM—a combination of olanzapine, an atypical antipsychotic, and samidorphan, an opioid antagonist, which is marketed as Lybalvi—in a real-world setting. Continue Reading

Study Finds Esketamine Nasal Spray More Likely to Induce Remission in Treatment-Resistant MDD Than Quetiapine Extended Release

A long-term clinical trial comparing esketamine CIII nasal spray with quetiapine extended release found that esketamine had greater success with inducing remission in participants with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (MDD).

The clinical trial—a randomized, open-label, active-controlled, rater-blinded, phase 3b study called ESCAPE-TRD—aimed to evaluate the efficacy of flexibly dosed esketamine nasal spray (Johnson & Johnson’s Spravato) in comparison with the efficacy of quetiapine extended release, both when combined with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) or a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), in patients with treatment-resistant MDD. Continue Reading

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