Sub-Lingual Dexmedetomidine in Agitation Associated With Schizophrenia

This is a two-stage adaptive Phase Ib trial design. It is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multiple ascending dose study assessing efficacy, pharmacokinetics, safety and tolerability of BXCL501 dosing in adult (18-65 years old) males and females with acute agitation associated with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or schizophreniform disorder. The first stage will characterize a safe and tolerable dose range that results in a calming effect as measured using the PEC total score. The lowest dose with clear clinical benefit, and the highest safe and well-tolerated dose that demonstrates efficacy in a large proportion of subjects will be selected over the course of testing multiple escalating dose cohorts. The second stage will comprise a total of 40 subjects per dose group in a three-arm placebo-controlled design in order to better characterize the broader range of safety and tolerability as well as better estimate variability (effect size) which may be observed in later phase placebo-controlled trials.