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Minerva Neurosciences Receives Refusal to File Letter from FDA for its New Drug Application for Roluperidone for the Treatment of Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia
BURLINGTON, Mass., Oct. 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: NERV), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the
About this update from Minerva Neurosciences, Inc
[{"type":"text","content":"BURLINGTON, Mass., Oct. 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: NERV), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapies to treat central nervous system (CNS) disorders, today announced that the company has received a refusal to file letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the company’s New Drug Application (NDA) for roluperidone for the treatment of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. The FDA has indicated that the company can request a Type A meeting to discuss the content of the refusal to file letter. “We are disappointed that the FDA has not accepted our NDA for roluperidone. Our goal remains to provide a new and much needed therapeutic option to help patients and their families, since there are currently no approved therapies to treat negative symptoms of schizophrenia in the United States,” said Remy Luthringer, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Minerva. “The company intends to request a Type A meeting and looks forward to continued discussions with the FDA.” About Schizophrenia and Negative SymptomsSchizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and debilitating type of mental illness characterized by distortions in thinking, perception, emotions, language, sense of self and behavior. Schizophrenia affects 20 million people worldwide. (World Health Organization). Negative symptoms can cause individuals with schizophrenia to withdraw from society, become disinterested or unable to complete tasks or feel pleasure. Negative symptoms are characterized by five constructs: blunted affect, alogia, avolition, anhedonia, and asociality (Marder and Galderisi, 2017). Negative symptoms are the main cause of the poor functional outcome of patients suffering from schizophrenia (Harvey et al., 2020) and may also be one of the main reasons ultra-high risk adolescents may develop full blown schizophrenia (Gomes and Grace, 2017). There are currently no treatments approved for negative symptoms of schizophrenia in the US. Minerva believes that research continues to emerge indicating that there is a large subgroup of patients with schizophrenia who have moderate to severe primary negative symptoms and minimal positive symptoms (Galderisi 2021) and have a low risk of worsening of positive symptoms even in the absence of antipsychotic treatm...