OUR APPROACH Targeting what schizophrenia treatments have long overlooked
For decades, traditional schizophrenia therapeutic options have focused on treating positive symptoms such as controlling agitation, hallucinations and delusions, without addressing the negative symptoms that most limit independence.
We are advancing an entirely new approach: targeting the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, including reduced motivation, emotional blunting and social withdrawal.
Why Minerva Is Focusing on Negative Symptoms
Some patients describe schizophrenia “like watching life from behind a glass wall.” These negative symptoms shape how patients experience their lives every day. Improving the negative symptoms of the disorder can help patients live more independently, maintain relationships and participate in the bigger landscape of life.
Approximately 1% of the U.S. population lives with schizophrenia.
Only roughly half are diagnosed and treated—representing ~1.5 million people in the U.S.—but even then, current treatment options often fall short for patients.
Available antipsychotics and clinical practices primarily focus on positive symptoms, while leaving other disabling aspects of the disease untouched, like the negative symptoms.
Emerging evidence shows that negative symptoms often persist for life and are mainly responsible for the functional impairment and long-term disability patients face.
POSITIVE SYMPTOMS
The “added” experiences
HALLUCINATIONS
DELUSIONS
DISORGANIZED THINKING
THOUGHT DISORDERS
NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS
Loss of normal function
SOCIAL WITHDRAWAL
FLAT OR BLUNTED EFFECT
“LIKE WATCHING LIFE FROM BEHIND A GLASS WALL”
ANHEDONIA (REDUCED ABILITY TO FEEL PLEASURE)
Avolition: The Linchpin of Functional Impairment
At the core of negative symptoms is avolition, which is a disruption in motivation, goal-directed behavior, and reward processing. When motivation is impaired, there’s a cascading of other secondary negative effects, such as apathy and asociality. Despite its central role in how schizophrenia manifests, avolition remains largely untreated by existing therapies.
Escaping the Negative Cycle
We are advancing roluperidone (MIN-101) as a monotherapy intended to treat schizophrenia’s negative symptoms in patients whose positive symptoms are controlled. In clinical studies, roluperidone has been shown to act on key brain circuits related to primary negative symptoms like lack of motivation.
Robust Clinical Evidence Supports Roluperidone
Following general alignment with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on trial design, roluperidone is advancing into a confirmatory Phase 3 study.