Through The Stanley Medical Research Institute, Pitt Department of Psychiatry faculty member, Vishwajit Nimgaonkar, MD, PhD and his team of co-investigators will test the usefulness of commercially available sodium cromoglycate nasal spray as an adjunct therapy in improving the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. In this work, PittPharmacy’s Vinayak Sant, PhD will develop a suitable placebo and the administration strategy to improve the uptake of cromoglycate in brain upon nasal administration. He will also design the method to analyze blood levels of cromoglycate.
Schizophrenia affects over 21 million people worldwide. It imposes a heavy personal and public health cost primarily due to lack of effective treatment. Majority of currently available drugs provide only partial relief for psychotic symptoms and none guarantee more than modest relief for negative symptoms or for cognitive impairments. Due to the high cost of developing new drug treatments and availability of big data analytic tools, the interest in re-purposing the currently marketed drugs is growing significantly.
