Recent Advances in Psychopharmacology: 2nd Edition
A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmacology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 24 April 2026 | Viewed by 36
Special Issue Editors
2. Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, London, UK
3. St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India
Interests: psychiatry; psychopharmacology; pharmacogenetics; pharmacogenomics; genetics; pharmacokinetics; pharmacodynamics; pharmacovigilance; drug interactions; phenoconversion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
2. Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, London, UK
Interests: psychopharmacology; bipolar disorder; major depressive disorder; novel treatments; cognition
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Conducting clinical trials in psychiatry remains challenging, as it is difficult to recruit a sufficient number of patients and uncertainty remains with regard to reliable outcome parameters. At one point, major drug companies as Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, Glaxo Smith Kline, and Eli Lilly ceased almost all of their psychopharmacology discovery efforts [1]. Nevertheless, in a recent overview of all the recent and current phase 2 or phase 3 clinical trials, n = 43 were focused on schizophrenia medication, n = 11 were centred around bipolar disorder, n = 56 focused on major depressive disorder, n = 29 were aimed at anxiety disorder and trauma-related disorders, and n = 17 focused on medication for substance disorders [2]. One must bear in mind that, generally, when developing new psychopharmacological medications, it takes almost nine years before they are deemed ready to be administered to patients, and the likelihood of drug approval in the field of psychiatry is only 6.2%. Thus, novel strategies in psychiatry are sorely needed but difficult to deliver [3].
Enhancing medication prescription with pharmacogenetics is another important strategy. In general, only one-third of patients respond to treatment with available psychiatric medications [4,5]. Medication selection in this field currently relies on a trial-and-error approach primarily based on physicians’ experience [4,5]. Pharmacogenetic testing can help with this process by revealing the person-specific genetic factors that may predict clinical response and side effects associated with genetic variants that impact drug-metabolising enzymes, drug transporters, or drug targets [4–7].
The second edition of this Special Issue will showcase more exciting examples of newly emerging or registered medications in psychiatry alongside recent pharmacogenetic advances.
References
- Howes OD, Baxter L. The drug treatment deadlock in psychiatry and the route forward. World Psychiatry 2023;22(1): 2-4.
- Correll, M. Solmi, S. Cortese, M. Fava, M. Højlund, HC. Kraemer, RS. McIntyre, DS. Pine, LS. Schneider, JM. Kane- The future of psychopharmacology: a critical appraisal of ongoing phase 2/3 trials, and of some current trends aiming to de-risk trial programmes of novel agents, World Psychiatry 2023;22(1): 48-74.
- Yatham LM All levels of the translational spectrum must be targeted to advance psychopharmacology and improve patient outcomes, World Psychiatry 2023;22(1): 75-76.
- van Westrhenen& M. Ingelman-Sundberg. Editorial: From Trial and Error to Individualised Pharmacogenomics-Based Pharmacotherapy in Psychiatry. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2021 doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.725565.
- Brown e.a. Pharmacogenomic Testing and Depressive Symptom Remission: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective, Controlled Clinical Trials, Clin Pharm&Ther 2022; 112(6): 1303-1317.
- Swen J, e.a. A 12-gene pharmacogenetic panel to prevent adverse drug reactions: an open-label, multicentre, controlled, cluster-randomised crossover implementation study. Lancet 2023;400(10374): 347-356.
- van Westrhenen, AH. Young AH, U. Heilbronner, JM., M. Ingelman-Sundberg, M. Jukic, J Kaprio, MJH Kas, R. Moldovan, MM. Nöthen, A. Philipsen, N. Shomron, E. Van der Eycken, E. Vieta, TG Schulze, and The PSY-PGx Consortium, World Psychiatry 2025;24(1):141-142.
Prof. Dr. Roos Van Westrhenen
Prof. Dr. Allan H. Young
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- psychopharmaca
- pharmacogenomics
- pharmacogenetics
- psychedelics
- dementia drugs
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