Diverse First-in-Class Pipeline Shows Promise for Treatment of Negative & Cognitive Symptoms

First-in-class products have the greatest potential in terms of development and commercial prospects. In line with the overall pipeline, first-in-class innovation is dominated by products acting on neuromodulator targets with the strongest representation in the Discovery and Preclinical stages of development.

Small Pipeline for Schizophrenia with Few Signs of Innovation

The schizophrenia pipeline is relatively small, given the large patient population and well-defined unmet needs, with a total of 160 products in active development. This is indicative of a low level of R&D funding and investment, most likely due to a poor understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the disease, which acts as a strong barrier to the development of effective pharmaceutical products.

Reflecting the situation in the market, the overwhelming majority of these products are small molecules, with a small but notable portion of the pipeline consisting of other molecule types such as  cell therapies, peptides and vaccines – none of which are currently present in the schizophrenia market. Of the 160 products in the schizophrenia pipeline, 43 are first-in-class, meaning they act on molecular targets not yet present in any market in the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, these first-in-class pipeline products act on 27 first-in-class molecular targets.