Failed drug discovery in psychiatry: time for human genome-guided solutions.
Our knowledge about the molecular and neural mechanisms of emotional and cognitive processes has increased exponentially in the past decades. Unfortunately, there has been no translation of this knowledge into the development of novel and improved pharmacological treatments for psychiatric disorders. We comment on some of the reasons for failed drug discovery in psychiatry, particularly on the use of ill-suited disease models and on the use of diagnostic constructs unrelated to the underlying biological mechanisms. Furthermore, we argue that the use of human genetic findings together with biologically informed phenotypes and advanced data-mining methodology will catalyze the identification of promising drug targets and, finally, will lead to improved therapeutic outcomes.
University of Basel, Department of Psychology, Division of Molecular Neuroscience, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Psychiatric University Clinics, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Department Biozentrum, Life Sciences Training Facility, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Transfaculty Research Platform, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: andreas.papas@unibas.ch.
Andreas
A
Papassotiropoulos
University of Basel, Psychiatric University Clinics, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Transfaculty Research Platform, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Department of Psychology, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: dominique.dequervain@unibas.ch.
Dominique J F
DJ
de Quervain
D000818:Animals; D057225:Data Mining / Q000379:methods; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods*; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics*; D008954:Models, Biological; D010597:Pharmacogenetics / Q000379:methods; D010641:Phenotype; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000494:pharmacology
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs