Overview of Asenapine Data from Olympia Trial Program Presented at American Psychiatric Association Annu...( Efficacy and safety data support pote...),Health

Efficacy and safety data support potential of asenapine in the treatment of

schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder

WASHINGTON, May 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP) today announced that an overview of asenapine clinical trials from the Olympia program was presented at the 161st Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington, D.C., May 3-8. Data from the studies, involving patients with bipolar I disorder and schizophrenia, were presented in two oral presentations (Abstracts # 44 and # 80). Also presented were long-term safety and efficacy data from a clinical trial involving patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders.

Asenapine, a fast-dissolving, novel psychopharmacologic agent with a unique human receptor signature, was shown to be effective in two short-term bipolar mania studies with a nine-week extension and in two out of four short-term schizophrenia studies. In the third short-term schizophrenia study, neither asenapine nor the active control differentiated from placebo; in the fourth study, asenapine did not differentiate from placebo, while the active control did. Overall, asenapine was well tolerated in the Olympia trial program.

"Despite having effective treatments available, up to 75 percent of schizophrenia patients(1) and many bipolar disorder patients stop taking their medicines because of unwanted side effects or lack of efficacy," said Roger McIntyre, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at the University of Toronto and head of the Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit at the University Health Network, Toronto, Canada. "Therefore, new therapies that are both effective and well-tolerated would be
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