Treatment Trials and Drug Development
The largest program at SMRI seeks to identify medications that will improve the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Although some medications have been available since the 1960s, they have proven to be only partially effective. Many individuals affected with these diseases continue to have symptoms even when taking available medications, while others find it difficult to take medications because of side effects.
There are two parts of this SMRI program:
- Regular Treatment Trials
The purpose of this program is to support the testing of medications to assess their efficacy for treating schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. SMRI is especially interested in supporting the testing of medications that are unlikely to be tested by pharmaceutical companies because they are not commercially profitable. At any given time, SMRI is supporting 75-100 treatment trials, the majority of which are on generic and/or off-label medications. To view a list of SMRI-funded trials, click on List of Awarded Treatment Trials. To view a description of a trial, click on the "select" button to the left of the grant identification number. The list can be sorted numerically/alphabetically by clicking on a column head.
Regular treatment trials can be funded for up to $300,000 per year. Applications must be submitted by October 1 of each year; applicants will be notified of the decision by the end of November.
- Special Treatment Trials and Drug Development
SMRI also supports special treatment trials and occasional drug development. Special treatment trials are usually multi-center trials that require more than $300,000 per year to carry out. Such trials are usually reserved for medications for which preliminary SMRI-supported trials have been promising.
SMRI has, in the past, also supported the development of promising medications at selected corporate biotechnology companies. At this time, such funds are fully committed, and new applications are not being accepted.