The Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC), representing a consortium of charities and global pharmaceutical companies (“Psychiatry Consortium”), is looking to identify novel research projects to accelerate drug-discovery in psychiatric diseases.

The Psychiatry Consortium wishes to fund projects of up to 3‑year duration (at £200k-£1M each) focussing on the identification and validation of novel drug targets to address the unmet therapeutic needs of people with mental health conditions. The Psychiatry Consortium will work collaboratively with successful researchers to develop the projects and provide, in addition to project funding, access to drug-discovery expertise and capabilities, through specialised CRO partners, commercial know-how and project management resources.

The Psychiatry Consortium wishes to fund research focusing on novel molecular targets, pathways and potential therapeutics for mental health conditions, including (but not restricted to) psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, stress related disorders, PTSD, OCD, autism spectrum disorders as well as psychiatric symptoms associated with dementia and other cognitive disorders.

In order to be funded, successful projects will meet either or both of the following criteria:
– provide preliminary evidence that links the molecular target to human disease, with evidence that target modulation will have a therapeutic effect
– be using or developing tools that enable target validation e.g. “tool compounds” to improve selectivity, potency, or bioavailability, or biomarkers, assays, or models relevant to disease

The Psychiatry Consortium is not interested in funding:
• Projects focused on well-studied targets and pathways for psychiatry diseases
• Projects with advanced chemistry e.g. lead/candidate molecules already synthesised and requiring only in vivo PK studies, preclinical proof-of-concept studies or IND-enabling studies
• Non-pharmacological interventions

The Psychiatry Consortium will cover all eligible direct research costs associated with the project, including, for example, research funding for assay development, screening and medicinal/biopharmaceutical chemistry resources required to develop novel chemistry against the target, and salary support for the applicant themselves or for research staff as appropriate. The Psychiatry Consortium will not fund indirect costs, such as non-specific estimated costs, including estates costs, library costs, finance, legal and HR costs.

The first call for proposals is open to applicants from academic institutions and other research institutes worldwide. Closing date 22nd November 2019

Official website: https://md.catapult.org.uk/syndicates/psychiatry-consortium/