Karuna’s Phase III schizophrenia success primes company for takeout

Karuna’s positive Phase III results for schizophrenia treatment KarXT validate CEO Steven Paul’s simple but elegant approach to mitigating the GI side effects of xanomeline and establishes the company as a prime takeout target just as biotech M&A is heating up.

In results from the EMERGENT-2 study announced Monday, KarXT — a combination of xanomeline and trospium chloride — demonstrated a 9.6-point reduction in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) Total Score compared with placebo at Week 5 (p<0.0001) and reductions in positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, meeting primary and key secondary endpoints. ...