FDA approves Cobenfy, a model new kind of schizophrenia drug : Quick Wave : NPR

Cobenfy, a brand new drug made by Bristol Myers Squibb and authorized by the FDA final week, triggers muscarinic receptors as a substitute of dopamine receptors. It is the primary schizophrenia therapy to take action.

Bristol Myers Squibb

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Bristol Myers Squibb

Cobenfy, a brand new drug made by Bristol Myers Squibb and authorized by the FDA final week, triggers muscarinic receptors as a substitute of dopamine receptors. It is the primary schizophrenia therapy to take action.

Bristol Myers Squibb

For the previous 70 years, schizophrenia remedies all focused the identical chemical: dopamine. Whereas that works for some, it causes brutal uncomfortable side effects for others.

An antipsychotic drug authorized final month by the FDA adjustments that. It triggers muscarinic receptors as a substitute of dopamine receptors. The drug is the results of an opportunity scientific discovering … from a examine that wasn’t even centered on schizophrenia.

This episode, host Emily Kwong and NPR pharmaceutical correspondent Sydney Lupkin dive into the place the drug originated, the way it works and what it’d shift for folks with schizophrenia.

Learn extra of Sydney’s reporting on this new therapy.

This episode was produced by Hannah Chinn and edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez. The info had been checked by Tyler Jones. The audio engineer was Maggie Luthar.

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This episode was produced by Hannah Chinn and edited by Rebecca Ramirez. It was fact-checked by Tyler Jones. Maggie Luthar was the audio engineer.