3 medical breakthroughs to know about in 2024

2. A NEW MEDICATION FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA Earlier this fall, the FDA approved a first-of-its-kind treatment for schizophrenia, a chronic brain disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels

and behaves, and can cause serious symptoms, including hallucinations and delusions.  For decades, schizophrenia— which affects approximately 24 million people, worldwide, according to

the World Health Organization — has been treated with drugs that target dopamine receptors. These medications, however, “can cause really adverse side effects,” says Hannah Brown, M.D.,

clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Boston University’s Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, including movement effects, weight gain, drowsiness and metabolic disfunction.

The newly approved drug, Cobenfy, has a different target to treat symptoms and, as a result, comes with fewer undesirable side effects. “It's really the tolerability that's

beneficial with this new medication,” says Brown, who is also the director of the Wellness and Recovery After Psychosis (WRAP) program at Boston Medical Center. And that’s important when it

comes to treating schizophrenia, since one of the biggest challenges among patients is medication discontinuation, she explains. “People have symptom relapses because they stop taking the

medications, and they often stop taking them because the side effects are really terrible,” Brown says. That’s not to say Cobenfy is without side effects. The most common reactions reported

in clinical trials were nausea, indigestion, constipation, vomiting, hypertension, abdominal pain, diarrhea, tachycardia (increased heartbeat), dizziness and gastroesophageal reflux disease

(GERD), according to the FDA. “This drug takes the first new approach to schizophrenia treatment in decades,” Tiffany Farchione, M.D., director of the Division of Psychiatry, Office of

Neuroscience in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a news release. “This approval offers a new alternative to the antipsychotic medications people with schizophrenia

have previously been prescribed.” Brown notes that more research is needed to better understand the drug’s long-term tolerability and how well it treats symptoms compared to other

medications on the market. Cost is also a consideration. The drug has a list price of $1,850 a month, according to its manufacturer, and insurance coverage will likely vary. Still, doctors

and researchers say the new option is a welcome one. “This is sort of the most hope we've had in a while for schizophrenia medication. So I think that's where we are in the field,

is hopeful — cautiously hopeful,” Brown says.