Evaluation of Effectiveness and Safety of Paliperidone Extended Release in Patients With Schizoaffective Disorder.

• Baseline Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia (PANSS) Total Score [ Time Frame: Baseline ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The PANSS is a 30-item scale (range 30-210) designed to assess various symptoms of schizophrenia including delusions, grandiosity, blunted affect, poor attention, and poor impulse control. The 30 symptoms are rated on a 7-point scale that ranges from 1 (absent) to 7 (extreme psychopathology). The PANSS total score consists of the sum of all 30 PANSS items. Higher scores indicate worsening.
  
  
• The Change From Baseline to Week 6 or the Last Post-randomization Assessment During Double-blind Treatment in the Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia (PANSS) Total Score. [ Time Frame: Baseline to Week 6 Last Observation Carried Forward (LOCF) End Point ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The PANSS is a 30-item scale (range 30-210) designed to assess various symptoms of schizophrenia including delusions, grandiosity, blunted affect, poor attention, and poor impulse control. The 30 symptoms are rated on a 7-point scale that ranges from 1 (absent) to 7 (extreme psychopathology). The PANSS total score consists of the sum of all 30 PANSS items. Higher scores indicate worsening.
  
  

• Number of Participants With Response [ Time Frame: Baseline to Week 6 LOCF End Point ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Response is defined as a 30% or more reduction from baseline in PANSS total score and a CGI-C score of <= 2. (CGI-C-SCA: Clinical Global Impression of Change for Schizoaffective Disorder). The PANSS is a 30-item scale (range 30-210) designed to assess various symptoms of schizophrenia including delusions, grandiosity, blunted affect, poor attention, and poor impulse control. The CGI-S rating scale is a 7 point global assessment that measures the clinician's impression of the severity of illness exhibited by a subject.
  
  
• Change in Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia (PANSS) Positive Subscale Score [ Time Frame: Baseline to Week 6 LOCF End Point ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Positive Syndrome Scale (range 7-49): Sum of scores for items 1-7 in positive subscale: delusions, conceptual disorganization, hallucinatory behavior, excitement, grandiosity, suspiciousness/persecution, and hostility. Higher scores indicate worsening.
  
  
• Change in Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia (PANSS) Negative Subscale Score [ Time Frame: Baseline to Week 6 LOCF End Point ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Negative Syndrome Scale (range 7-49): Sum of scores for items 1-7 in negative subscale: blunted effect, emotional withdrawal, poor rapport, passive apathetic social withdrawal, difficulty in abstract thinking, lack of spontaneity and flow of conversation, and stereotyped thinking. Higher scores indicate worsening.
  
  
• Change in Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia (PANSS) General Psychopathology Subscale Score [ Time Frame: Baseline to Week 6 LOCF End Point ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  General Psychopathology (range 16-112): Sum of scores for somatic concern, anxiety, guilt feelings, tension, mannerisms/posturing, depression, motor retardation, uncooperativeness, unusual thought content, disoriented, poor attention, lack of judgment/insight, disturbance of volition, poor impulse control, preoccupation, and active social avoidance. Higher scores indicate worsening.
  
  
• Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia (PANSS) Positive Factor Score [ Time Frame: Baseline to Week 6 LOCF End Point ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Positive PANSS Factor Score (range 8-56): Sum of scores for items 1, 3, 5, and 6 in positive subscale: delusions, hallucinatory behavior, grandiosity, suspiciousness; item 7 in negative subscale: stereotyped thinking; and items 1, 9, and 12 in general psychopathology subscale: somatic concern, unusual thought content, lack of judgment, and insight. Higher scores indicate worsening.
  
  
• Change in Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia (PANSS) Negative Factor Score [ Time Frame: Baseline to Week 6 LOCF End Point ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Negative PANSS Factor Score (range 7-49): Sum of scores for items 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 in negative subscale: blunted affect, emotional withdrawal, poor rapport, passive social withdrawal, lack of spontaneity; and items 7 and 16 in general psychopathology subscale: motor retardation, and active social avoidance. Higher scores indicate worsening.
  
  
• Change in Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia (PANSS) Disorganized Thought Factor Score [ Time Frame: Baseline to Week 6 LOCF End Point ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Disorganized Thoughts PANSS Factor Score (range 7-49): Sum of scores for item 2 in positive subscale:Conceptual disorganization; item 5 in negative subscale:difficulty in abstract thinking; and items 5, 10, 11, 13, and 15 in general psychopathology subscale: mannerisms/posturing, disorientation, poor attention, disturbance of volition, and preoccupation. Higher scores indicate worsening.
  
  
• Change in Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia (PANSS) Uncontrolled Hostility/Excitement Factor Score [ Time Frame: Baseline to Week 6 LOCF End Point ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Uncontrolled Hostility/Excitement PANSS Factor Score (range 4-28): Sum of scores for items 4 and 7 in positive subscale: excitement, hostility; and items 8 and 14 in general psychopathology subscale: uncooperativeness, and poor impulse control. Higher scores indicate worsening.
  
  
• Change in Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia (PANSS) Anxiety/Depression Factor Score [ Time Frame: Baseline to Week 6 LOCF End Point ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Anxiety/Depression PANSS Factor Score (range 4-28): Sum of scores for items 2, 3, 4, and 6 in general psychopathology subscale: Anxiety, Guilt feelings, Tension, Depression. Higher scores indicate worsening.
  
  
• Clinical Global Impression (CGI-S) - Severity for Schizoaffective Disorder Score at Baseline [ Time Frame: Baseline ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The CGI-S rating scale is a 7 point global assessment that measures the clinician's impression of the severity of illness exhibited by a subject. A rating of 1 is equivalent to "Normal, not at all ill" and a rating of 7 is equivalent to "Among the most extremely ill subjects".
  
  
• Change in Clinical Global Impression (CGI-S) - Severity for Schizoaffective Disorder [ Time Frame: Baseline to Week 6 LOCF End Point ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The CGI-S rating scale is a 7 point global assessment that measures the clinician's impression of the severity of illness exhibited by a subject. A rating of 1 is equivalent to "Normal, not at all ill" and a rating of 7 is equivalent to "Among the most extremely ill subjects".
  
  
• Clinical Global Impression (CGI-C) - Change for Schizoaffective Disorder [ Time Frame: Week 6 LOCF End Point ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The CGI-C rating scale is a 7 point global assessment that measures the clinician's impression of the change occurring in the illness over a course of treatment, relative to baseline. A rating of 4 is equivalent to "No change". Ratings of <4 are equivalent to "improvement" and ratings of > 4 are equivalent to "worsening".
  
  

Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder are closely related in terms of symptoms, coexisting conditions, and genetic risk. In previous studies in patients with schizophrenia, treatment with paliperidone extended-release (ER) improved psychotic symptoms, as well as mood symptoms evaluated by anxiety/depression and hostility/excitement Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia (PANSS) factor scores. Therefore, paliperidone ER may also be effective in treating symptoms of schizoaffective disorder. Paliperidone's limited potential for drug-drug interaction is particularly important in this patient population, in which multiple drug therapy is relatively common. This multicenter, double-blind (neither the patient nor the physician knows whether drug or placebo is being taken, or at what dosage), randomized (patients are assigned different treatments based on chance), placebo-controlled, parallel-group study is designed to examine the effectiveness and safety of paliperidone ER in adult patients with schizoaffective disorder who are experiencing an acute episode of this disorder. Patients in the study will be randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups to receive 6 weeks of oral treatment with 1 of 2 dosages of paliperidone ER or placebo. The primary efficacy outcome will be the change from baseline to Week 6, or the last post-randomization assessment during double-blind treatment (endpoint), in the PANSS total score. Safety will be assessed by monitoring adverse events, clinical laboratory testing, pregnancy testing, vital signs measurements, physical examination, administration of a 12-lead ECG, movement disorders side effect scales, and the InterSePT Scale for Suicidal Thinking. Patients may also choose to participate in a pharmacogenomic (DNA) analysis. The primary study hypotheses are that at least one of the two dosages of paliperidone ER is better than placebo on the change from baseline in the PANSS total score in acutely ill patients with schizoaffective disorder at the end of 6 weeks of treatment. Patients will receive study drug by mouth for a total of 43 days. Beginning on Day 1, patients will take either placebo or 1 of 2 doses of paliperidone: 6 mg/day (low randomized dosage) or 12 mg/day (high randomized dosage). During the first 2 weeks, dosages may be adjusted.