Frontiers of Neuropsychopharmacology: Psychosis

Recent data from large trials indicate that thee is a limit to the effectiveness of available antipsychotic mediations. Current dopamine drugs are effective for attenuating the severity of psychosis, but they are relatively ineffective for improving functioning. This has led to a search for drugs that are effective for reducing symptoms domains that are associated with functional outcome, particularly cognitive impairment and negative symptoms. This session will focus on addressing the critical issues that interfere with drug development for innovative targets including the incentives of the pharmaceutical industry, the lack of a consensus on regarding the best measures for clinical trials, problems in clinical trials, problems in clinical trial design, and the lack of adequate clinical models.