US drugmakers have almost 200 medicines in development for mental illnesses

Research-based biopharmaceutical companies in the USA are developing 187 innovative medicines to help the nearly 60 million patients in the country who are suffering from some form of mental illness, excluding Alzheimer’s disease, for which a separate specific report will be published later this year.

The medicines in development – all in either clinical trials or under review by the Food and Drug Administration – include 52 for depression, 37 for schizophrenia and 26 for anxiety disorders, according to a new report released by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

“Mental illnesses do not discriminate and can have a profound impact on people’s lives,” said PhRMA president and chief executive John Castellani, adding: “They come in many different forms and impact patients in many different ways. That is why biopharmaceutical research companies are working on new and better paths of treatment for patients battling these disabling conditions.”