The University of Bath has received a £3.5 million Wellcome grant to study cognitive decline and premature brain ageing in psychotic disorders like schizophrenia.

Led by Professor Esther Walton from the Department of Psychology, the five-year project aims to develop new treatments with fewer side effects and find ways to prevent and slow cognitive impairment.

The study, titled The glue that holds the pieces together: Unlocking Cognitive Health in Psychotic Disorders, is co-designed with adults who have lived experience of psychosis. Professor Walton said: “Cognitive impairment in psychosis is often overlooked, yet it can shape a person’s entire future. Our research aims to change that.”

Ad Gridley, a project consultant diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager, emphasised the importance of the study: “Our lived experience panel has been involved from the start, shaping the research and ensuring it reflects real-world challenges.”

Cognitive impairment is one of the most disabling aspects of psychotic disorders, often appearing early and worsening over time. Recent research suggests that the brain changes behind these impairments resemble premature ageing, such as brain shrinkage.

Professor Walton’s team will use cutting-edge methods to investigate cognitive impairment in psychosis. These methods include brain scans and computer models to study how cognitive impairment and psychosis speed up brain ageing.

They will also study mice to understand the brain cell changes linked to cognitive impairment and schizophrenia. Additionally, they will analyse protein samples from people who later developed psychosis to find new ways to prevent memory and thinking problems.

The study hopes to drive early interventions that could slow or prevent deterioration. It brings together experts from Cardiff, Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and the University of Jena in Germany. The goal is to raise awareness, break stigma and develop better ways to predict, prevent and treat these issues.

Global biotechnology leader CSL has announced that the European Commission has approved Andembry (garadacimab), the first once-monthly treatment targeting factor XIIa to prevent hereditary angioedema (HAE) attacks in patients aged 12 and older.

Andembry inhibits plasma protein factor XIIa, which starts the cascade of events leading to angioedema at various body sites.

CSL’s Bill Mezzanotte, Executive Vice President, Head of R&D, commented: “Andembry is a significant advancement in the management of hereditary angioedema, offering long-term control over their disease with a patient-centric, convenient administration method.

Andembry underscores our more than 40-year legacy in HAE research and treatment optimisation and our decades-long journey to bring this innovation to patients.”

HAE is a rare, chronic and life-threatening genetic disorder characterised by recurrent attacks of angioedema, often painful and can spread to multiple body sites, including the abdomen, larynx, face and extremities. It occurs in about one in 50,000 people of any ethnic group.

Markus Magerl, Head of Clinical Trials at Charité University Hospital Berlin, said: “The physical and emotional toll of HAE is substantial and the true prevalence could be higher than recorded due to misdiagnoses.

“The unpredictable nature of HAE is daunting as patients never know when an attack might occur. Current HAE preventive therapies work at downstream steps in the cascade but none prevent the cascade at its start like Andembry.”

The approval is based on efficacy and safety data from the pivotal international phase 3 VANGUARD trial and its open-label extension study. Andembry is now under review by regulatory agencies in the United States, Japan, Switzerland and Canada.