Psyprotix

Psyprotix is an atai Life Sciences company. Precision psychiatry is an emerging field which aims to treat and prevent disorders by factoring each patient’s variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle. It allows physicians to prescribe a targeted treatment rather than relying on commonly used trial and error, including options such as adding antidepressants or antipsychotics. Depression is one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders and a leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting an estimated 300 million people globally. Approximately one third of patients with major depressive disorder are diagnosed with treatment resistant depression. US$1 trillion is lost in productivity to major depressive disorder (MDD) per year according to WHO. TRD is reported to be three times longer on average than non-TRD MDD episodes, resulting in a nearly 20-fold increase in costs. This highlights the need to develop a mechanistically targeted therapeutic approach, in which PysProtix will focus on the metabolomics aspect of precision psychiatry and its relationship to depression symptoms.