Efficacy and Safety of Pimavanserin as Adjunctive Treatment for the Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia (ADVANCE)

The NSA-16 is a semi-structured interview and a validated scale containing 16 items for evaluating negative symptoms of schizophrenia, i.e. the reduction or absence of emotional expression and volitional behaviors normally present in a healthy person. Items are scored based on behaviors during the interview (items 1-4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 15, 16) or previous 7 days (items 5, 8, 10, 12-14) on a 6-point scale from 1 to 6. The NSA-16 total score is the sum of item scores. It can range from 16 to a maximum of 96, with higher scores denoting more severe negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

The PSP is a validated 100-point (1 to100) single-item rating scale to assess the psychosocial functioning of subjects with schizophrenia. Ratings are based on 4 main areas i.e. (a) socially useful activities, including work and study; (2) personal and social relationships, (3) self-care; and (4) disturbing and aggressive behaviors. The time period assessed is "past month". Higher scores denote better psychosocial functioning

The NSA-16 is a semi-structured interview and a validated scale containing 16 items for evaluating negative symptoms of schizophrenia, i.e. the reduction or absence of emotional expression and volitional behaviors normally present in a healthy person. Items are scored based on behaviors during the interview (items 1-4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 15, 16) or previous 7 days (items 5, 8, 10, 12-14) on a 6-point scale from 1 to 6. The NSA-16 total score is the sum of item scores. It can range from 16 to a maximum of 96, with higher scores denoting more severe negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

NSA-16 responders were defined as patients with at least 20, 30, 50, or 75% percentage improvement in NSA-16 total score from baseline.

The global negative symptoms rating of the NSA-16 assesses overall severity on a 7-point scale from 1 to 7, with higher scores denoting more severe negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

The NSA-16 is a semi-structured interview and a validated scale containing 16 items for evaluating negative symptoms of schizophrenia, i.e. the reduction or absence of emotional expression and volitional behaviors normally present in a healthy person. Items are scored based on behaviors during the interview (items 1-4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 15, 16) or previous 7 days (items 5, 8, 10, 12-14) on a 6-point scale from 1 to 6. The NSA-16 domain scores are the sum of item scores in each domain i.e. communication (min score 4, max score 24), emotion/affect (min 3, max 18), social involvement (min 3, max 18), motivation (min 4, max 24), and retardation (min 2, max 12); with higher scores denoting more severe negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

The CGI-SCH-S is a clinician-rated, 7-point scale to evaluate positive, negative, depressive, cognitive symptoms and overall severity in schizophrenia. For the purpose of this study, only the negative symptoms were evaluated. The score could range from 1 (normal, not ill) to 7 (among the most severely ill).

The CGI-SCH-I is a clinician-rated, 7-point scale to evaluate change from baseline in positive, negative, depressive, cognitive symptoms and overall severity in schizophrenia. For the purpose of this study, only the changes in negative symptoms from baseline were evaluated. The score could range from 1 (very much improved) to 7 (very much worse).

The CGI-SCH-I is a clinician-rated, 7-point scale that is designed to evaluate change from baseline in positive, negative, depressive, cognitive symptoms and overall severity in schizophrenia. For the purpose of this study, only the changes in negative symptoms from baseline were evaluated. The 7-point scores range from 1 (very much improved) to 7 (very much worse); responders were defined as those with CGI-SCH-I of 1 or 2.

The analysis includes observed cases; missing cases were not imputed.

The PANSS is a 30-item scale to evaluate the presence, absence, and severity of schizophrenia symptoms. Items are scored over the past week (7 days) on a 7-point scale from 1 (absent) to 7 (extreme). The PANSS total score is the sum of scores and ranges from a minimum of 30 to a maximum of 210. Higher scores denote more severe symptoms.

The PANSS is a 30-item scale to evaluate the presence, absence, and severity of schizophrenia symptoms. Items are scored over the past week (7 days) on a 7-point scale from 1 (absent) to 7 (extreme). The PANSS has 3 subscales that are the sums of the respective item scores, including the positive scale (min 7, max 49), negative scale (min 7, max 49), and general psychopathology scale (min 16, max 112). Higher scores denote more severe symptoms.

The BACS is a performance-based assessment of treatment-related changes in cognition, assessing 6 domains of verbal memory and learning; working memory; motor function; verbal fluency; attention and speed of processing; and executive function. The 6 domains with their raw scores are: verbal memory 0-75; digit sequencing 0-28; token motor 0-100; verbal fluency 0-225; symbol coding 0-110; Tower of London 0-22. For each domain, higher scores reflect better cognition. Raw scores are converted to age and sex-corrected normalized scores. The BACS composite score is calculated as the mean of the normalized scores from the 6 subscale scores, standardized so that the mean of the BACS composite score in the healthy normative sample is 50 and the standard deviation is 10.

The DAI-10 contains 6 items (1, 3, 4, 7, 9, and 10) that a subject who is fully adherent to the prescribed medication would answer as "True" and 4 items (2, 5, 6, and 8) that a subject who is fully adherent to the prescribed medication would answer as "False." A correct answer is scored +1 and an incorrect answer is scored -1. The total score is the sum of pluses and minuses, which can range from -10 to 10 in increments of 2. A positive total score indicates a positive subjective response (adherent) and a negative total score indicates a negative subjective response (non-adherent). Higher scores denote better adherence.

The KSS is a self-reported subjective measure of a subject's level of drowsiness. Respondents must choose statements that most accurately describe their level of sleepiness over the past 7 days. Scoring was based on a 9-point verbally anchored scale ranging from 1 (extremely alert) to 9 (very sleepy, great effort to keep awake, fighting sleep). Higher scores denoted more drowsiness.