--- description: It is the first new drug candidate for schizophrenia in decades. title: A New Drug Compound Shows Promise for Schizophrenia image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e498c1dbca07a69/698a4345e6e84a4a672b0d0e/man-silhouette.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) ## Health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Drugs](/tag/drugs/) ## Drugs Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # A New Drug Compound Shows Promise for Schizophrenia ## Video: The Small Change Hospitals Are Making That Has a Big Impact on Cutting Emissions [Watch (HLS stream): The Small Change Hospitals Are Making That Has a Big Impact on Cutting Emissions](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YHIlEAHJ.m3u8) (1:06)  _Published 2023-12-01. Scotland's initiative to eliminate desflurane has inspired similar commitments globally. England aims to phase out the gas by 2024, and the European Union has formulated a proposal to ban the use of desflurane by 2026. In the U.S., a growing list of hospitals from Michigan to Seattle to Pennsylvania have either eliminated or committed to eliminating the gas with positive results both for the environment and their bottom line._  by [Alice Park](/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Updated: Jan 19, 2026 9:11 AM CUTPublished: Dec 15, 2023 1:00 PM CUT  Getty Images  by [Alice Park](/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Updated: Jan 19, 2026 9:11 AM CUTPublished: Dec 15, 2023 1:00 PM CUT For people with schizophrenia, treatment is an ongoing, life-long process of antipsychotic medications and psychotherapy. Medications are key to controlling episodes, but most have serious enough side effects—including uncontrolled muscle movements, gaining weight and drowsiness—that people skip doses or decide not to take them. In a study published Dec. 14 in the _Lancet_, researchers report on a promising new treatment for the psychiatric disorder that could give patients better options. KarXT, developed by biotech company Karuna Therapeutics, targets a different brain chemical than most existing schizophrenia treatments and appears to have fewer side effects. The study involved 252 people who were hospitalized with schizophrenia and randomly assigned to receive two capsules of KarXT, or a placebo, per day for five weeks. Those taking the drug showed fewer extremes of positive and negative symptoms associated with acute psychosis than those on placebo. Both groups has similar rates of side effects, including constipation, diarrhea, reflux and hypertension. “This represents a new option, and a new approach in an area where there is still substantial need for advances in treatments,” says Andrew Miller, chief operating officer of Karuna. Unlike existing schizophrenia treatments, which target the brain chemical dopamine, KarXT targets the muscarinic neurotransmitter system in the brain, which is involved in cognition. The muscarinic receptors on brain cells bind with the brain chemical acetylcholine, which is the target of certain cognition-related treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. In studies that Karuna conducted in these patients, its scientists found that patients with Alzheimer’s-related psychoses seemed to benefit as well. “By targeting a completely different neurotransmitter system, through completely different receptors, clinical data uncovered novel benefits without the problematic side effects of existing treatments,” he says. ### More From TIME But because muscarinic receptors are found widely throughout the body, creating a drug that targets them was challenging, since it would trigger serious side effects. To solve the problem, Karuna scientists combined its compound with another that blocked the drug from acting outside of the brain. “That enabled the development of KarXT,” Miller says. Karuna has submitted the results of this trial as part of it request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval; the agency will make a decision by Sept. 2024. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6509764/new-drug-compound-schizophrenia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6509764/new-drug-compound-schizophrenia/"},"headline":"A New Drug Compound Shows Promise for Schizophrenia","datePublished":"2023-12-15T13:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-01-19T09:11:39.000Z","description":"It is the first new drug candidate for schizophrenia in decades.","url":"https://time.com/6509764/new-drug-compound-schizophrenia/","keywords":["Drugs","healthscienceclimate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e498c1dbca07a69/698a4345e6e84a4a672b0d0e/man-silhouette.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e498c1dbca07a69/698a4345e6e84a4a672b0d0e/man-silhouette.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"man-silhouette","caption":"man-silhouette","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/drugs/","name":"Drugs"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6509764/new-drug-compound-schizophrenia/","name":"A New Drug Compound Shows Promise for Schizophrenia"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Small Change Hospitals Are Making That Has a Big Impact on Cutting Emissions","description":"Scotland's initiative to eliminate desflurane has inspired similar commitments globally. 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