UCLA Health and ACNP propose biomarker roadmap for precision psychiatry

Researchers are proposing a shift toward precision psychiatry by utilizing biological markers to improve the treatment of conditions such as depression and schizophrenia. A new consensus paper from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), co-led by UCLA Health, outlines a roadmap for using biomarkers to enhance psychiatric drug development and tailor treatments to individual patients.

Currently, psychiatric drug trials often group participants based on shared symptoms. However, individuals with the same diagnosis may possess vastly different underlying biological profiles. This can lead to medications appearing ineffective in large, mixed populations when they might actually be highly successful for specific biological subgroups.

The proposed roadmap suggests using biomarkers—measurable signals from blood, brain activity, or wearable devices—to identify these subgroups more accurately. While similar biological testing is already utilized in cancer and Alzheimer’s care, the ACNP task force aims to implement similar precompetitive collaboration to refine how psychiatric medications are developed and eventually prescribed.