A phase 3 trial tested an app against the symptoms of schizophrenia no drug is approved for

No medication is approved for the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. In a 457-person double-blind trial, a smartphone therapeutic beat a sham app on motivation and pleasure, by a modest margin.

Negative symptoms of schizophrenia - blunted motivation, reduced pleasure, social withdrawal - drive much of the long-term disability, and no drug is approved in the US to treat them. Psychosocial interventions help, but access and sustained engagement limit them. Researchers led by Abhishek Pratap ran CONVOKE, a phase 3, multicentre, double-blind randomised trial at 66 US sites between March 2023 and June 2025, testing CT-155, an investigational smartphone-based digital therapeutic built on established psychosocial techniques, as an add-on to antipsychotic medication. 457 adults already taking up to two antipsychotics were randomised one to one to the therapeutic or to a digital control app, for 16 weeks. The primary outcome was change in the motivation and pleasure subscale of the Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms. Both groups improved: the treatment arm by 6.8 points, the control arm by 4.2, a difference of 2.6 points, confidence interval 4.0 to 1.2, p below 0.001. Retention was high in both arms, 70.4% and 76.5% still active at week 15. Three things are worth holding together. The design is strong - double-blind, a digital control rather than a waiting list, phase 3, large. The effect is modest, a small-to-moderate standardised difference. And the control arm improved substantially on its own, which is what a credible sham app looks like and also a reminder of how much of a digital intervention's apparent benefit is attention and structure. The product is industry-developed and industry-funded, which is normal for a phase 3 trial and still worth stating.