How to survive the valleys of death in translation: innovative pharmacology in psychiatry

The 1950s could be conceptualized as Transformation 1.0 in psychiatric pharmacology witnessing the introduction of most of the conventional pharmacotherapeutic classes in agents prescribed in the treatment of mental disorders today. Consensus exists that there is a need for innovation as defined by greater overall efficacy, shorter time to peak efficacy, improvement in patient reported outcomes that are meaningful, and disease modification rather than symptom alleviating. During the past two decades, exceptional progress has been made in identifying new molecular targets in the treatment of psychiatric disorders that are beyond the conventional monoaminergic targets. This campfire session will review many of the exciting developments, including but not limited to pharmacologic approaches that target glutamate, GABA, orexins, opioidergic modulations, potassium channel openers and sirtuin activators. IN addition, this session will also explore exciting developments with psychedelics as well as incretin-based therapies whereas Dr. McIntyre will be addressing a fundamental question and that is whether GLP-1 Receptor Agonists are psychiatric drugs capable of treating and preventing mental disorders. The format will be interactive, engaging, thoughtful and highly scientific and will be of interest to all stakeholders in psychiatry.