First patient dosed in risperidone clinical trial for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder

Key takeaways:

• Lyndra Therapeutics began dosing in a clinical trial of risperidone for schizophrenia and schizoaffective and bipolar disorders.
• The drug would introduce a long-acting oral option to schizophrenia treatment.

A biopharmaceutical company announced it has dosed the first patient in a clinical trial of a long-acting oral treatment for schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar I disorder, according to a company press release.

The risperidone oral treatment (LYN-005; Lyndra Therapeutics) is delivered by the company’s LYNX platform in a single capsule taken once weekly. The trial will evaluate the effectiveness of the weekly dose of the antipsychotic, which is equivalent to taking 2 mg to 6 mg risperidone daily, according to the release.

With the weekly oral drug, Lyndra intends to promote adherence to antipsychotic medications in people with schizophrenia, whose only current long-acting options require injections, according to the release.

“At Lyndra, our development pipeline focuses on health conditions where reducing the dosing frequency and delivering the drug more consistently could have a significant impact,” Richard Scranton, MD, MPH, chief medical officer of Lyndra, said in the release. “People living with schizophrenia and other serious mental health conditions need more patient-centric treatment options that can help address challenges like poor medication adherence and relapse.”