When a failed trial isn't a failed drug A new AI analysis of a negative Alzheimer's trial raises questions about whether conventional clinical trials are missing patients who could still benefit from treatment. Written byBree Foster, PhD

When a failed trial isn't a failed drug A new AI analysis of a negative Alzheimer's trial raises questions about whether conventional clinical trials are missing patients who could still benefit from treatment. Written byBree Foster, PhD https://www.drugdiscoverynews.com/when-a-failed-trial-isn-t-a-failed-drug-17431?utm_campaign=DDN_Newsletter_Dose&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9kFGGK0UMKuMSJJod4S_jlYokN6RAvvvIePbMGN0MPejHpxMsVzDUDDPU5xjcEYGlb-G1JYpgvea9VdKCtUY4dKwluNA&_hsmi=447270532&utm_content=447270532&utm_source=hs_email When a Phase 3 clinical trial misses its primary endpoint, the outcome is often treated as definitive. The drug failed to demonstrate efficacy, development stops, and the therapy may never be tested again. But a negative trial in a heterogeneous patient population does not necessarily mean that every participant failed to benefit. It may instead mean that any treatment effect was diluted when patients with very different disease biology and treatment responses were analyzed together. Can precision psychiatry finally move beyond trial and error? By combining genomics, brain imaging, and digital biomarkers, the MAP-D initiative aims to redefine depression through biology rather than symptoms alone. Written byBree Foster, PhD https://www.drugdiscoverynews.com/can-precision-psychiatry-finally-move-beyond-trial-and-error-17426?utm_campaign=DDN_Newsletter_Dose&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_PCJod2ejyOLFemEVKR14AMDvdp1NllOEhSV4_21m354Kgp2Vg_FQ1mUAEH_7xscCvLiECXQvBs7za44UFeP6_1tuUeQ&_hsmi=447270532&utm_content=447270532&utm_source=hs_email Depression affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and remains one of the leading causes of disability. However, there is still no single laboratory test, imaging scan, or molecular marker that can objectively diagnose the disorder, distinguish biologically distinct forms of depression, or predict which treatment would be most effective for an individual patient. Instead, clinicians rely largely on symptom-based questionnaires, trapping many patients in a frustrating cycle of trial and error that can leave patients waiting months or years to find an effective therapy.