atai Life Sciences launches another new company, PsyProtix

Germany-based biotech atai Life Sciences (Nasdaq: ATAI) today announced the launch of PsyProtix, a new platform company formed with Chymia, a Duke University biotechnology spinout.

PsyProtix is a precision psychiatry company focused on developing therapeutics for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and other mental health indications. PsyProtix takes a precision psychiatry approach, an emerging field that aims to treat disorders by factoring each patient’s variability in genes, metabolism, environment, and lifestyle. Traditionally, psychiatric patients are diagnosed and treated based on guidelines and protocols designed for the majority, which can often lead to trial and error as physicians attempt to best meet each individual patient’s needs.

Over 300 million people suffer with a major depressive disorder (MDD) worldwide, with a third of these patients diagnosed with TRD. Direct medical costs for TRD patients are estimated to be two to three times higher than non-TRD MDD patients. These statistics highlight the importance and potential of a mechanistically targeted therapeutic approach. PsyProtix will focus on metabolomic mechanisms underlying depression symptoms for certain patients with the goal of deriving more tailored treatments.