The effects of lurasidone on five symptom domains and individual items in schizophrenia: Post-hoc analysis from Phase 3 study

The aim of this analysis was to examine the impact of treatment with lurasidone on a broad range of symptoms during an acute episode of schizophrenia. In patients with an acute exacerbation of schizophrenia treated with lurasidone in a 6-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, a mixed-effect model for repeated measures was used to analyze weekly change in both the five Marder Factors and the 30 individual items of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Treatment with lurasidone was associated with significant endpoint improvement on all five Marder PANSS factors with effect sizes ranging from 0.22 to 0.44. Significant early (week 2), sustained improvement was observed on four of the five Marder Factors, with significant improvement occurring by week 4 on the Marder Negative Symptom factor. In addition to significant improvement on five out of eight Marder Positive Symptom items, the following non-Positive PANSS items were notable for being especially responsive to lurasidone treatment in terms of significant early improvement and endpoint effect sizes >0.3: anxiety, tension, preoccupation, active social avoidance, and conceptual disorganization. The results of this non-USA study confirm results from previous studies indicating that lurasidone is an effective antipsychotic medication.