Changing Drug Discovery for Neuropsychiatric Disorders with Phenotypic Screens

Despite the large human and societal costs of neuropsychiatric disorders, many of these conditions have poor or no treatment options. And there has been a dearth of new mechanisms to treat major neuropsychiatric disorders for decades. PsychoGenics is seeking to change that with its unique approach to drug discovery for these conditions. Rather than rely on a target-based approach, the company has created high-throughput phenotypic screens using validated mouse models and artificial intelligence to detect behavioral changes. We spoke to Mark Varney, chief scientific officer of PsychoGenics, about the company’s use of phenotypic screens to discover new drugs for neuropsychiatric disorders, how it works, and the case for this approach.