Publications by authors named "Howard H Hassman"

In the 5-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled EMERGENT-1 (NCT03697252), EMERGENT-2 (NCT04659161), and EMERGENT-3 (NCT04738123) trials, xanomeline and trospium chloride (formerly known as KarXT) significantly improved symptoms of schizophrenia and was generally well tolerated. We pooled data from the EMERGENT trials to further characterize the efficacy of xanomeline/trospium and provide sufficient statistical power to analyze responses in participant subgroups. In pooled analyses, xanomeline/trospium significantly improved Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score at week 5 versus placebo (least squares mean difference, -9.

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The remarkably high and growing placebo response rates in clinical trials for CNS indications, such as depression and schizophrenia, constitute a major challenge for the drug development enterprise. Despite extensive literature on participant expectancies and other potent psychosocial factors that perpetuate placebo response, no empirically validated participant-focused strategies to mitigate this phenomenon have been available. This study evaluated the efficacy of the Placebo-Control Reminder Script (PCRS), a brief interactive procedure that educates participants about factors known to cause placebo response, which was administered prior to the primary outcome assessments to subjects with major depressive or psychotic disorders who had at least moderate depression.

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