Wellcome Trust awards Karuna Pharmaceuticals $8m

Biomedical research charity The Wellcome Trust has granted clinical-stage company Karuna Pharmaceuticals $8 million to further advance the clinical development of a schizophrenia treatment.

The funding will further development of KarXT (karuna-xanomeline-trospium) through a phase 2 study in people with schizophrenia.

According to Andrew Miller, president and CEO of Karuna, current schizophrenia treatment has limited effectiveness and is often associated with serious side effects.

“With KarXT, we have an opportunity to potentially improve positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms based on prior compelling efficacy data with xanomeline, and without the debilitating side effects of existing therapies,” he explained.

Lynsey Bilsland, senior business analyst at the Wellcome Trust, said that the organisation is committed to supporting innovations that help understand mental illness.

She said: “Research in this important area has long been under-resourced, and doctors and patients currently rely on treatments which have existed for decades.”

The Wellcome Trust previously awarded Karuna $3.8 million to fund a phase 1 “tolerability proof of concept study” with KarXT. The study reported successful results.

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