Therapeutic Development in the Absence of Predictive Animal Models of Nervous System Disorders: Proceedings of a Workshop

In response to the de-emphasis of CNS disorders in therapeutic development relative to other disease areas such as cancer, metabolism, and autoimmunity, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine initiated a series of workshops in 2012 to address the challenges that have slowed drug development for nervous system disorders. Motivated by the notion that advances in genetics and other new technologies are beginning to bring forth new molecular targets and identify new biomarkers, the Academies hosted the third workshop in this series in September 2016. Participants discussed opportunities to accelerate early stages of drug development for nervous system disorders in the absence of animal models that reflect disease and predict efficacy. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.