New Paradigms for Treatment Development

Wayne Fenton believed that government-particularly National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-could play a critical role in addressing important public health problems where the current system of treatment development was inadequate. Earlier experiences in HIV/AIDS convinced him and others that the NIMH can effectively facilitate the rapid development of new research in critical areas. This report will demonstrate how the work of Fenton and others brought together representatives from industry, government, and academia to address issues that included new preclinical approaches to drug development and defining new therapeutic targets in schizophrenia. An initiative to facilitate the development of new pharmacological agents to address the cognitive impairments in schizophrenia-titled Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophreniaor MATRICS-is used as an example of a new paradigm for treatment development.