Approximately 340 million people globally suffer with a severe mental illness, to include Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. It is estimated that 30% of these people do not respond to the primary treatments available – they are treatment resistant. The first focus of our platform is on Schizophrenia, identifying biomarkers for patients that are unlikely to respond to traditional antipsychotics and providing a platform to support novel treatment development.

Schizophrenia: Understanding the Challenges

Schizophrenia is a complex mental health condition that affects about 1 in 100 people in the UK. It can cause hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren't there) and delusions (fixed, false beliefs). Additionally, people with schizophrenia may experience social withdrawal, difficulty concentrating, and disorganised thinking.

Current Treatment Landscape

Schizophrenia is typically treated with a combination of medication and therapy. Antipsychotic medications are the mainstay of treatment, helping to manage symptoms like hallucinations and delusions. Therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), can equip individuals with coping mechanisms and improve social skills. However, finding the right medication and therapy approach can be an extremely long process of trial and error, and some people experience severe side effects from medications. People with treatment resistant schizophrenia will have trialled at least 2 antipsychotics before being trialled on clozapine and may experience multiple hospitalisations due to inadequate or inappropriate treatments.

MeOmics: A Precision Approach to Treatment

The MeOmics platform uses neuronal cell signalling data combined with genetic and clinical data to identify novel biotypes of schizophrenia and associated underlying biological mechanisms and patient biomarkers. This data can be used to target drug discovery and development and identify the likely ‘biotype’ of a newly presenting patient in order to inform clinical decision making to get the right drug to the right patient as quickly as possible.

Getting Help in the UK

If you or someone you know is experiencing symptoms of schizophrenia, it is important to seek professional help. Here are some resources available in the UK:

Your GP (general practitioner)

They can refer you to mental health services.

NHS talking therapies:

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/nhs-talking-therapies/

Rethink Mental Illness:

https://www.rethink.org/