Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42425941›Full record

ReviewTranslational psychiatry2026

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in neuropsychiatric drug discovery: current challenges and future directions.

Soyal James, Tarun Bastiampillai, Lyle J Palmer, Pramod C Nair

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Translational psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Soyal JamesDiscipline of Clinical Pharmacology, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Tarun BastiampillaiFlinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI) College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6931-2913
Lyle J PalmerAustralian Institute of Machine Learning, University of Adelaide, Corner Frome Road and North Terrace, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia.
Pramod C NairDiscipline of Clinical Pharmacology, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia. pramod.nair@flinders.edu.au.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8630-0121

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful tool for solving real world problems across a wide range of industries and is increasingly being utilised by pharmaceutical companies to discover novel drug targets, biomarkers, and new drugs. Several AI-driven small molecules have entered clinical trials over the past few years, but their fate remains unknown. Currently, no commercially available compounds have been developed solely using AI approaches. In this perspective, we examine the current use of AI in drug discovery for neuropsychiatry. The pace of drug discovery in neuropsychiatric medicine has been generally sluggish, largely due to challenges such as poor pharmacological selectivity, the blood-brain barrier, and a limited understanding of disease mechanisms. AI may offer innovative solutions to these challenges. However, relative to fields such as oncology, the impact of AI on the discovery of neuropsychiatric drugs has been limited. Although novel AI-tools have been developed to overcome some of the challenges involved in neuropsychiatry drug discovery, their effectiveness has not been sufficiently evaluated. To date, innovative tools such as AlphaFold have been used to identify drug candidates for multiple neuropsychiatric conditions. AI-driven platforms have been used to study behavioural data from preclinical models to identify novel clinical candidates in clinical trials (e.g., ulotaront, phase III). It is anticipated that the availability of large-scale multi-omics data ('big data') will likely increase in the future, allowing us to gain a better understanding of gene-associated mechanisms in psychiatry. Using AI-based technologies such as AlphaFold, future pharmacological targets will be identified based on gene expression data, and large libraries of chemical compounds will be screened rapidly to identify novel drug candidates, resulting in shorter pre-clinical phase with lower costs.

Indexed as

Artificial IntelligenceDrug DiscoveryMental DisordersNeuropsychiatryAnimalsHumans

Identifiers

PMID42425941
PMCPMC13635235

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.