The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new schizophrenia treatment on Thursday for the first time in decades, offering an alternative to the antipsychotic medications those with the mental illness have typically been prescribed.
Though Cobenfy is still an antipsychotic drug, it’s the first to target cholinergic receptors instead of the typical method of blocking dopamine receptors, which would reduce symptoms like hallucinations and delusions. But those medications typically had serious side effects that can leave patients opting to forgo treatment instead of dealing with things like weight gain, fatigue, tremors and involuntary movements.
But Bristol Myers Squibb’s new drug will indirectly target the dopamine receptors by targeting the neurochemical acetylcholine to inhibit the activity of cholinergic receptors, which play an important role in memory, cognition and autonomic functions. And studies showed the twice-daily Cobenfy pill’s ingredients — xanomeline and trospium chloride — won’t likely cause the same side effects as other antipsychotic medications while still helping manage the same schizophrenia symptoms.