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Our Mission

About Us

Our Mission

The Psychiatry Consortium provides opportunities for funding, collaboration and knowledge exchange – to drive innovation in psychiatric drug discovery.

The mission of the Psychiatry Consortium

Scale and Impact

The scale and impact of mental illness across society is huge. One in ten children, and one in four adults (approx. 15 million people) experience mental illness each year, affecting their wellbeing, relationships, and potential ability to work. The economic and social cost has been estimated as £105bn a year in England alone. New treatments are needed urgently. However, the lack of novel drug targets combined with the challenge of validating them pre-clinically, and the high failure rate in clinical trials have led to a reduced investment in drug discovery and development in the last decade and there have been no new effective types of treatment for over 30 years.

However, there is good news too:

recent renewed interest from Pharma means there are opportunities for re-investment
recent renewed interest from Pharma means there are opportunities for re-investment
advances in the understanding of disease biology combined with the emerging genetic data can inform new efforts in drug-discovery
advances in the understanding of disease biology combined with the emerging genetic data can inform new efforts in drug-discovery
world-leading academic centres and initiatives are already generating new targets
world-leading academic centres and initiatives are already generating new targets

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