Abstract
Athina Markou and others argue forcefully for the adoption of a “translational-back
translational strategy” for central nervous system drug discovery involving novel
application of drugs with established safety profiles in proof-of-principle studies
in humans, which in turn encourage parallel studies using experimental animals to
provide vital data on the neural systems and neuropharmacological mechanisms related
to the actions of the candidate drugs. Encouraged by the increasing adoption of drug-development
strategies involving reciprocal information exchange between preclinical animal studies
and related clinical research programs, this review presents additional compelling
examples related to the following: 1) the treatment of cognitive deficits that define
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; 2) the development of fast-acting antidepressants
based on promising clinical effects with low doses of the anesthetic ketamine; and
3) new and effective medications for the treatment of substance misuse. In the context
of addressing the unmet medical need for new and effective drugs for treatment of
mental ill health, now may be the time to launch major new academic-industry consortia
committed to open access of all preclinical and clinical data generated by this research.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 03, 2018
Accepted:
January 12,
2018
Received in revised form:
December 13,
2017
Received:
August 16,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Society of Biological Psychiatry.
