Building bridges along the psychiatric drug discovery pipeline

Psychiatric drug discovery must be a truly collaborative process if it is to be successful. All too often industry and academia work exclusively, developing transformative work in isolation of each other and only building alliances at a later stage when necessary. Cross-disciplinary partnerships cultivated earlier in the process can take a project in a whole new direction, for the benefit of those working on the science, for the patient and the investor.  

We believe the challenges facing psychiatric research require the insights and involvement of individuals across all aspects of the research landscape. People with lived experience of mental health, academic researchers, clinicians, regulators and industry scientists to name a few, must all be involved in the development of solutions if we are to overcome the hurdles to psychiatric drug development. 

This series of free webinars* will highlight the challenges and opportunities at key stages in the translational pipeline, from identifying the unmet patient need, undertaking the basic research required to understand the disease biology to developing novel treatments. At each stage, we will hear from experts who will give their perspectives on what we can do to support each other along this process.  

> Click here to register for one or all of the webinars in this series* <

*This event is co-organised by The Psychiatry Consortium as part of a supporter's package. Support for the BNA's work is gratefully acknowledged; see more about supporting the BNA here.

Webinar 1: Building bridges along the psychiatric drug discovery pipeline – challenges and opportunities for collaborative partnerships 

This event took place on Tuesday 9th November, 1-2pm (GMT). The webinar is now available to watch on YouTube by clicking the link below.

Overview of the key challenges facing psychiatric drug discovery and how BNA and PC are working together to address them 

Chair: Kevin Cox, (BNA)
Speakers: Sophie Sykes-Jerrold (BNA), Laura Ajram (Psychiatry Consortium), Ilan Rabiner (Invicro), Liz Tunbridge (University of Oxford)

Webinar 2: Building bridges along the psychiatric drug discovery pipeline – understanding and prioritising patient unmet need 

This event took place on Tuesday 23rd November, 1-2pm (GMT). The webinar is now available to watch on YouTube by clicking the link below.

Content warning: This webinar contains a personal account of mental health struggles, including references to suicide, which some viewers may find distressing.

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this webinar, please visit our partner; MQ Mental Health for resources and support.

How can we better understand patient unmet need, and feed this into drug discovery efforts?  

Chair: Subodh Dave (Dean of the Royal College of Psychiatrists)
Speakers: Simon Rose (NHS Foundation Trust), Trudi Seneviratne (Royal College of Psychiatrists)
Click here for more information and to register

Webinar 3: Building bridges along the psychiatric drug discovery pipeline – the academic perspective of the challenges of drug discovery 

Tuesday 22nd February, 1-2pm (GMT) 

The academic perspective of the challenges of drug discovery and positive solutions to overcome them 

Co-chairs: Sam Groom, (BPS), Farideh Javid (BPS)
Speakers: John Davis (University of Oxford), Robert Drake (University of Bristol)
Click here for more information and to register

Webinar 4: Building bridges along the psychiatric drug discovery pipeline – the industry perspective of the challenges of drug discovery

Tuesday 8th March, 3-4pm (GMT)

The industry perspective of the challenges of drug discovery and opportunities for collaborations with academia

Chair: Marianthi Papakosta (Takeda) 
Speakers: Aslihan Selimbeyoglu (Compass Pathways), Jeanne Bolger (J&J Innovation)
Click here for more information and to register

Webinar 5: Building bridges along the psychiatric drug discovery pipeline – solutions of how to work together

Tuesday 22nd March, 1-2pm (GMT) 

Building bridges – solutions of how to work together. Open discussion of common misconceptions about each other?  How best to ‘hand over the baton’ to the next person in the line 

Chair: Kevin Cox (BNA)
Panel of speakers:
•    Simon Rose (NHS Foundation Trust)
•    Trudi Seneviratne (Royal College of Psychiatrists)
•    Chas Bountra (University of Oxford)
•    Aslihan Selimbeyoglu (Compass Pathways)

Click here for more information and to register

The webinar series is sponsored by the Psychiatry Consortium and supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. Support for the BNA's work is gratefully acknowledged; see more about supporting the BNA here.