NIH announces public-private partnership to advance schizophrenia biomarker research

NIH announces public-private partnership to advance schizophrenia biomarker research The NIH this week announced the launch of Accelerating Medicine Partnership Schizophrenia. The NIH and FDA, along with seven industry and nonprofit partners, aim to improve early therapeutic interventions and targeted treatments for schizophrenia with this initiative. Goals of the partnership include conducting research into biological markers to identify people at risk for developing schizophrenia, tracking outcomes like symptom progression and defining targets for treatment development. A better understanding of early stages of risk could predict a patient’s likelihood of progression to psychosis and enable clinical trials to test pharmacologic interventions for preventing the onset of psychosis. The partnership’s total funding over a 5-year period is anticipated to include $82.5 million from the NIH, $7.5 million from industry partners and $9 million from nonprofit partners. Industry and nonprofit partners include the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF).