Schizophrenia treatment has traditionally focused on symptom management, primarily through drugs targeting dopamine receptors and, more recently the cholinergic system, which help reduce the “positive symptoms” of the disease. However, most patients remain inadequately controlled on existing therapies, especially with respect to the negative and cognitive symptoms of the disease, with little to no impact on their long-term functional outcomes.
At Spinogenix, we take a different therapeutic approach focused on regenerating glutamatergic synapses, the loss of which is thought to contribute to imbalances in dopamine and to the trio of positive, negative and cognitive symptom domains.
We are developing our investigational drug, tazbentetol, a first-in-class synaptic regenerative therapeutic, that has the potential to address the underlying structural damage to synapses that are a root cause of schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric conditions.
In this interview with Psychiatric Times, David Walling, PhD, Chief Clinical Officer of CenExel–CNS and PI of our schizophrenia Phase 2 study, shared the preliminary clinical findings from the trial at the Schizophrenia International Research Society Annual (SIRS) Congress in Florence earlier this year, and discussed the potential of synaptic regenerative therapies and what early improvements across symptom domains could mean for the future of neuropsychiatric treatments.
Dr. Walling highlights early data that suggests improvements in both positive and negative symptoms – as well as in cognition (an historically challenging area to treat) – emphasizing that tazbentetol appears to be fast acting and well tolerated when used in schizophrenia patients already receiving current standard of care treatment. He also references emerging data that positions EEG as a potential pharmacodynamic marker for schizophrenia, providing a critical tool to assess the ability of novel compounds to reach the brain and exert beneficial effects on abnormal patterns of brain activity that are linked to symptoms.
Watch Dr. Walling’s full interview in Psychiatric Times: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/frontiers-in-synaptic-regeneration-tazbentetol-for-schizophrenia