Xanomeline-trospium (Cobenfy TM) for Schizophrenia: A Review of the Literature

Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental illness associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Antipsychotics primarily rely on direct dopamine blockade, leading to potential life-interfering adverse events. The purpose of this review is to describe the safety and efficacy of xanomeline-trospium (CobenfyTM), a Food and Drug Administration approved treatment for schizophrenia in adults. Xanomeline has a novel mechanism of action for the treatment of schizophrenia acting as a dual muscarinic-1 and muscarinic-4 preferring receptor agonist. Two phase 3 trials with a xanomeline-trospium up to 125 mg/30 mg 2 times daily for patients with schizophrenia saw significant reductions in PANSS positive and negative subscales, PANSS Marder negative factors, and CGI-S scale scores compared to placebo. The Cohen’s d effect for the primary endpoint was around 0.60 in both trials. The medication was well-tolerated in all clinical trials with the most common adverse events being rated as mild-to-moderate. Two long-term, open-label studies with xanomeline-trospium showed that after 52 weeks of treatment more than 75% of participants achieved a ＞ 30% improvement on PANSS total score with a mean decrease in score by 33.3 points. Other improvements were reductions in PANSS positive and negative subscales, PANSS Marder negative factor score, and CGI-S score. In both long-term studies, patients previously in the placebo groups during either phase 2 or phase 3 trials achieved a statistically significant improvement on all efficacy measures starting at week 2. These data suggest that xanomeline-trospium is an effective and well tolerated treatment for schizophrenia with a novel mechanism of action.