Bifeprunox prolongs time to deterioration

The US subsidiary of Belgium's Solvay, US drugmaker Wyeth and Danish firm H Lundbeck AS presented strong data on their co-developed antipsychotic bifeprunox at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, in San Diego. New analyses of six-month data in stabilized adult patients with schizophrenia from a double-blind, placebo-controlled study demonstrated that bifeprunox maintained stability versus placebo and displayed a favorable weight and lipid profile comparable with placebo.

In analyses of data from one Phase III study, compared with placebo, bifeprunox significantly prolonged time-to-deterioration over six months, and experience decreased body weight and body mass index. The drug also showed favorable effects on total cholesterol, triglycerides, very low-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein, comparable with placebo over a six-month period, the firms noted, adding that, in all these analyses, the most common side effects reported with bifeprunox included nausea, vomiting, dizziness, anorexia, akathisia, dyskinesia and asthenia.