Our Focus

Making a meaningful difference in the treatment of mental illness

We’re working to develop medicines that can make a meaningful difference in the lives of those living with psychiatric and neurological conditions, with an immediate focus on schizophrenia and behavioral symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Through deepening our understanding of these complex conditions, our goal is to develop medicines that can alleviate burdensome symptoms to help restore function to those living with serious mental illness.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a persistent and often disabling mental illness affecting how a person thinks, feels and behaves.¹

Estimated to affect more than

21 million people worldwide¹

Comprised of three symptom domains:

Positive

Hallucinations
Delusions
Difficulty organizing and expressing thoughts

Negative

Difficulty enjoying life
Withdrawal from others
Lack of motivation

Cognitive

Memory impairment
Attention deficits
Poor concentration
Reduced executive function

More About Schizophrenia

Signs and symptoms of schizophrenia usually first appear in teenage years or early adulthood, and oftentimes people struggle to meet expected developmental adult milestones such as finishing school, and maintaining employment and relationships.²

Given the nature of the symptoms, schizophrenia can affect all areas of people’s lives and is one of the top 15 leading causes of disability worldwide.³ The estimated potential life lost is around 30 years compared to the general population.⁴ This is partly attributed to cardiovascular and metabolic comorbidities, as well as increased suicide rate, in people with schizophrenia.^5,6,7

While there is no cure for schizophrenia, there are treatments available that focus on managing positive symptoms and navigating challenges related to day-to-day functioning, such as medications and psychosocial therapy. New therapeutic options with differentiated mechanisms of action are in clinical development that aim to address the gaps of current treatments, such as treating all three symptom domains.

Schizophrenia fact sheet

Learn more about schizophrenia and access helpful resources.

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Psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease

Dementia is a condition characterized by the loss of cognitive functioning, such as thinking, remembering, and reasoning, as well as behavioral abilities to an extent that interferes with the ability to perform everyday activities.⁸ Psychiatric symptoms, such as psychosis, are prevalent across all forms of dementia, with psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease as the most common subtype of dementia-related psychosis.

An estimated 8 million people are living with dementia in the U.S., with Alzheimer’s disease as the leading cause of dementia, accounting for an estimated 60-80% of all cases.⁸

Symptoms of psychosis may present in those living with dementia, including 30-50% of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.⁹

More About Psychosis In Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer’s disease with psychosis is a marker for several adverse outcomes, and typically is associated with co-occurrence of other behavioral disturbances including agitation and aggression. Symptoms can become more prevalent with increased disease severity. Depressive symptoms are also increased, placing a larger burden on families and caregivers.⁹

While diagnostic criteria for dementia and Alzheimer’s mostly focus on the associated cognitive deficits, it is often behavioral symptoms such as psychosis and agitation that are the most troublesome for caregivers and lead to poor quality of life for patients.

There are no approved medicines for the treatment of psychosis in people with Alzheimer’s disease, underscoring the need for treatments that can alleviate these burdensome symptoms.

Visit our pipeline & programs page to learn more about our portfolio and efforts.

Pipeline & Programs

Visit our patients page to find additional support and resources.

Patient Resources

References

Charlson FJ, Ferrari AJ, Santomauro DF, et al. Global Epidemiology and Burden of Schizophrenia: Findings From the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Schizophr Bull. 2018;44(6):1195-1203.
What Is Schizophrenia? American Psychiatric Association. Accessed October 21, 2021. https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/schizophrenia/what-is-schizophrenia.
GBD 2017 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators. Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 [published correction appears in Lancet. 2019 Jun 22;393(10190):e44]. Lancet. 2018;392(10159):1789-1858.
Schizophrenia. National Institute of Mental Health. Accessed February 1, 2022. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/schizophrenia.
Lieberman, JA., Stroup ST, McEvoy JP, et al. Effectiveness of Antipsychotic Drugs in Patients with Chronic Schizophrenia. N Eng J Med. 2005;353:1209-1223
Raedler TJ. Cardiovascular aspects of antipsychotics. Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2010;23(6):574-581.
Patel KR, Cherian J, Gohil K, Atkinson D. Schizophrenia: overview and treatment options. P T. 2014;39(9):638-645.
Understanding Alzheimer’s and dementia. Alzheimer’s Association. Accessed October 22, 2021.https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-alzheimers.
Murray PS, Kumar S, Demichele-Sweet MA, Sweet RA. Psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease. Biol Psychiatry. 2014;75(7):542-552.