For some reason I can't quite pinpoint—perhaps the fact that drugs companies are so corrupt—this item makes my skin crawl. I worry about the people with schizophrenia who are signed up for this study; are they giving truly informed consent? I don't say that to be condescendiing—most of us with treated mental illnesses are quite capable of making informed decisions, thank you very much. But I've known people who have been at their wit's end with their diseases, and they're often the ones who enter these drug trials. If nothing else has worked, why not? Good luck, guys. I hope it goes well.

From the Washington Biz Journal

Vanda signs up patients for Phase III drug tests

by Vandana Sinha
Staff Reporter

Vanda Pharmaceuticals has finished signing up patients to participate in its third phase of testing for one drug that treats schizophrenia and another that treats transient insomnia. As of Aug. 29, the biotech company enrolled the last of 604 patients with schizophrenia to be tested in Phase III trials of its drug, iloperidone.

Last week, after reaching 412 patients, the company stopped enlisting healthy people for its Phase III trials for VEC-162 for insomnia. The Rockville company had finished enrollment for both earlier than expected, so it must still finalize the sites for both trials. But it hopes to launch both soon, and receive results as early as January.

After that, company officials said they would need to conduct additional trials of VEC-162. But if the results match expectations for iloperidone, then Vanda hopes to file for a new-drug application for the schizophrenia treatment with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the end of next year.

And does it strike anyone else as weird that the reporter's name is almost the same as the company's? I bet she's taken a lot of ribbing at the water cooler for that.