Poland
Making precision psychiatry a reality
Innovations in precision diagnostics and treatment strategies: from recognition to implementation
As part of its consensus Roadmap initiative for building a new diagnostic framework for mental disorders, ECNP will be organising a one-and-a-half-day meeting to discuss the development and implementation of novel targeted therapies in psychiatry on all fronts. Where previous meetings have focused predominantly on the research methodologies and the scientific rationale of precision psychiatry, this meeting aims to address the challenges and opportunities associated with making precision psychiatry a practical reality.
Recognising the broad implications for the treatment of brain disorders, all relevant stakeholders will be involved – from regulatory authorities, industry and the medical community, to health technology assessment professionals, patient advocacy groups, payer systems, and policymakers. Multistakeholder presentations and discussions are planned to review the current status of the uptake of innovations in psychiatry, assess the implementation challenges facing precision psychiatry approaches – from clinical development, trial design and regulatory pathways, to reimbursement and the complexities of the psychiatric care environment – and explore how our advancing understanding of mechanisms of action are opening up new research and treatment horizons.
In this way, we aim to further strengthen the value of innovation in psychiatry by bringing together international discussions across the global community and ensuring that scientific progress is shared at all levels of the mental health system.
Meet the speakers
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Ewa Bałkowiec-Iskra
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Derek Buhl
USA
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Kim Q. Do
Switzerland
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Wayne C. Drevets
USA
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Peter Falkai
Germany
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Shaun Johnson
United Kingdom
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Martien Kas
The Netherlands
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Gitte Moos Knudsen
Denmark
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Nikoalos Koutsouleris
Germany
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Rouba Kozak
USA
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Maria A. Oquendo
USA
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Frank J. Padberg
Germany
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Brenda Penninx
The Netherlands
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Andreas Reif
Germany
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Michael Sand
USA
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Carol Tamminga
USA
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Elizabeth Tunbridge
Germany
Programme
The livestreamed sessions were recorded for on-demand viewing until 26 January 2025 (registered participants only).
Support opportunities
If your company or organisation would like to be an official supporter of the meeting, please contact us.
Committee
Meet the committee members here.
Terms and conditions
For the terms and conditions, click here.
ECNP Roadmap Concept
Current nosology for the diagnosis of neuropsychiatric disorders separates each disorder often into non-overlapping diagnostic categories. This nosological separation is not based on underlying aetiology but on convention-based clustering of qualitative symptoms of disorders. Yet, overlap in disease symptoms and dimensions across different neuropsychiatric disorders is huge, leading to considerable comorbidity between disorders.
While diagnostic categories are sufficient to provide the basis for general clinical management, they do not describe the underlying neurobiology that gives rise to individual symptoms. The ability to precisely link these symptoms to underlying neurobiology would not only facilitate the development of new and more precise treatments – which are urgently needed given the unsatisfyingly low response and remission rates of current treatments of all modalities – it would also allow physicians to provide patients with a better understanding of the complexities and management of their illness. To realise this ambition, a paradigm shift is needed to build an understanding of how neuropsychiatric conditions can be defined more precisely using quantitative, multimodal biological and environmental processes and parameters and thus to optimise treatment efficacy.
Precision psychiatry has been introduced as a new approach to improve treatment of mental disorders and to develop innovative, mechanism-based treatment strategies beyond the current diagnostic boundaries. At its core, precision psychiatry is an approach that focuses on understanding the underlying neurobiological mechanisms that cause the symptoms of mental health conditions. Using this understanding, it aims to develop therapies that can target these mechanisms, which in turn will address previously untreatable aspects of mental health conditions by providing more specific symptom control and possibly altering the trajectory of the disease process. However, this new approach would result in a radically different diagnostic system, abandoning the classical clinical approach, and posing significant challenges for clinicians, industry, and regulators alike.
The ECNP Roadmap Initiative aims to reach a consensus roadmap for building a new diagnostic framework for mental disorders that will instantiate a set of principles and procedures by which research can continuously improve precision diagnostics. The initiative seeks to achieve global alignment with all stakeholders on the way forward to better define and (longitudinally) measure neuropsychiatric conditions, harmonise (translational) methodologies and data sets across the community, and mobilise resources to implement and validate the framework.
While diagnostic categories are sufficient to provide the basis for general clinical management, they do not describe the underlying neurobiology that gives rise to individual symptoms. The ability to precisely link these symptoms to underlying neurobiology would not only facilitate the development of new and more precise treatments – which are urgently needed given the unsatisfyingly low response and remission rates of current treatments of all modalities – it would also allow physicians to provide patients with a better understanding of the complexities and management of their illness. To realise this ambition, a paradigm shift is needed to build an understanding of how neuropsychiatric conditions can be defined more precisely using quantitative, multimodal biological and environmental processes and parameters and thus to optimise treatment efficacy.
Precision psychiatry has been introduced as a new approach to improve treatment of mental disorders and to develop innovative, mechanism-based treatment strategies beyond the current diagnostic boundaries. At its core, precision psychiatry is an approach that focuses on understanding the underlying neurobiological mechanisms that cause the symptoms of mental health conditions. Using this understanding, it aims to develop therapies that can target these mechanisms, which in turn will address previously untreatable aspects of mental health conditions by providing more specific symptom control and possibly altering the trajectory of the disease process. However, this new approach would result in a radically different diagnostic system, abandoning the classical clinical approach, and posing significant challenges for clinicians, industry, and regulators alike.
The ECNP Roadmap Initiative aims to reach a consensus roadmap for building a new diagnostic framework for mental disorders that will instantiate a set of principles and procedures by which research can continuously improve precision diagnostics. The initiative seeks to achieve global alignment with all stakeholders on the way forward to better define and (longitudinally) measure neuropsychiatric conditions, harmonise (translational) methodologies and data sets across the community, and mobilise resources to implement and validate the framework.