Late-stage trial failure hits Japanese schizophrenia partners

Japanese drugmakers Sumitomo Pharma (TYO: 4506) and Otsuka Pharmaceutical (TYO: 4578) have announced negative results from the DIAMOND and DIAMOND 2 trials of ulotaront.

Coded SEP-363856 while under development, the candidate is a TAAR1 agonist which the firms hope could offer certain people with schizophrenia a once-daily treatment option.

The therapy is aimed at acutely psychotic people, and while it was well-tolerated in both studies, the companies said a “large placebo effect” may have “masked the molecule’s therapeutic effect.”