Global Expansion: Psychiatry Consortium Welcomes New International Partner

Medicines Discovery Catapult Welcome Shionogi to the Psychiatry Consortium

Shionogi & CO., LTD. (known as “Shionogi”), a leading global research-driven pharmaceutical company, has joined the Psychiatry Consortium – an international collaboration to accelerate drug discovery and development in this area of urgent, unmet medical need.

The Psychiatry Consortium, managed by Medicines Discovery Catapult, is a strategic collaboration of leading medical research charities and eight pharmaceutical companies focusing on the challenge of identifying and validating novel drug targets to address the unmet therapeutic needs of people living with mental health conditions.

The Psychiatry Consortium has launched five funding calls and engaged with over 400 research institutions, across 75 countries worldwide, since its establishment in 2019. The Psychiatry Consortium has made a significant impact in the sector already; with over £1m in research funding committed across multiple international research projects, including a partnership to investigate a new drug target for the treatment of schizophrenia and an international collaboration that seeks to define a new pharmacological approach to treat depression.

Since 1878, Shionogi has been striving to supply the best possible medicines to protect the health and wellbeing of patients. Working alongside Psychiatry Consortium members and academic partners, Shionogi will be serving this mission in psychiatry whilst strengthening their global partnership initiative – working to advance research projects, and providing support through access to funding, expertise, and commercialisation know-how.Dr Laura Ajram, Partnership Lead for Neuroscience at MDC, said: “The Psychiatry Consortium continues to make great strides in accelerating psychiatric drug discovery and development. Through the work of the consortium, over £1m in research funding has been committed across multiple international research projects – addressing pressing mental health treatment needs in schizophrenia and depression. 

“Welcoming Shionogi, an international pharma organisation with significant heritage, to the already impressive roster of Psychiatry Consortium members will help to drive this impact – broadening the consortium’s global reach, whilst bringing further industry focus to this area of significant unmet patient need.”

Dr Naotaka Horiguchi, Director, Neuroscience at Shionogi, said: “Shionogi has a long track record of discovering and developing new medicines addressing key patient needs in the areas of mental health. However, the challenges of developing new medicines that have better treatment profiles and deliver improved benefits cannot be done in isolation. 

“The Psychiatry Consortium provides us with the opportunity to work with collaborators across industry and academia to build a better understanding of the underlying biology of different central nervous system (CNS) conditions and we at Shionogi look forward to working with the consortium members to accelerate drug development to address key unmet psychiatric medical needs.”

Shionogi has a strong track record of fostering long-term relationships with a wide range of industry partners to develop innovative medicines that address unmet medical needs, including in the CNS field. 

The Psychiatry Consortium is currently seeking projects that aim to validate novel targets for psychiatric conditions, with a funding call open until 1 December 2022. 

Application details are available here.

To find out more about the Psychiatry Consortium, please visit psychiatryconsortium.org.