Conditions: Schizophrenia
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 831
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Schizophrenia is a brain disease. The condition may be associated with acute psychotic episodes and long-term disability despite remission from the acute symptoms. Current management of schizophrenia focuses on the treatment of acute symptoms as well as long-term treatment aimed at preventing relapse after patients have experienced an improvement in acute symptoms. Patients who discontinue treatment have a high likelihood of experiencing relapse within 1-2 years after an acute episode of schizophrenia. Patients who remain on antipsychotic treatment have lower rates of relapse and have milder courses of exacerbation when relapse occurs.The symptoms of schizophrenia may be due to an imbalance in chemicals in the brain, primarily dopamine and serotonin, which enables brain cells to communicate with each other. Asenapine may help to correct the imbalance in dopamine and serotonin. The purpose of this clinical trial is to evaluate the efficacy of asenapine in preventing relapse/impending relapse (hereafter referred to as 'relapse') in subjects who have been treated with asenapine for symptoms of schizophrenia for 26 weeks. In addition, to determine the safety and tolerability of asenapine for up to 1-year of treatment.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: None arm 2: None

Interventions: intervention 1: Asenapine - Open Label intervention 2: Placebo - Double Blind intervention 3: Asenapine - Double Blind
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Open Label Phase: All subjects received 26 weeks of open label asenapine treatment (cross titration period up to first 4 weeks, with target dose of 10 mg twice daily by week 1). intervention 2: Double Blind Phase: Following Open Label Phase, matching placebo sublingual twice daily for 26 weeks. intervention 3: Double Blind Phase: Following the Open Label Phase, asenapine 5 or 10 mg sublingual twice daily for 26 weeks.

Protocol document: