Latuda (Takeda/Sunovion) effective for Schizophrenia

New results for Latuda (lurasidone hydrochloride), from Takeda and Sunovion Pharma, in patients with Schizophrenia switching medication, show the treatment is effective, has a rapid onset of action and is a well-tolerated. Two post-hoc pooled analyses demonstrated that Latuda is an effective treatment with a good safety profile. Analysis also demonstrated early separation from placebo by Week 1 and that the 160 mg dosage may provide significant additional efficacy benefit. Those treated with Latuda also experienced significantly greater improvement at Week 6 compared with placebo on PANSS total and subscale scores (positive and negative) and CGI-Severity score. Two other 12-month trials compared the safety and effectiveness of Latuda with quetiapine XR and risperidone, and demonstrated clinically significant weight gain (defined as more than 7% weight gain from baseline) in 7.0% and 14.0% of patients treated with Latuda vs risperidone, and in 11.5% and 15.2% of patients treated with Latuda vs quetiapine, respectively.

Side-effects included weight-gain, metabolic parameters and prolactin. Takeda has submitted a marketing authorization application for Latuda in October 2012 to the European Medicines Agency. Data was presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress.