did major drug companies abandon psychiatric drug research?
“the fact that major drug companies have abandoned research in this area”
a guest, a historian of psychiatry said on Lex Fridman Podcast, 2026-09-21, at 04:28. hear it in context →
first, the part that holds
it's true that some of the largest drug companies pulled back hard from psychiatric drug research around 2010 to 2013. one closed its psychiatric labs entirely, another shut down its in-house psychiatric research, and a third cut its programs sharply. the federal mental-health research agency's own leadership called it a crisis at the time.
what we found when we went and looked
a 2013 review in cerebrum by a former director of the national institute of mental health (nimh) describes what happened between roughly 2010 and 2013: one major company "closed their psychiatric laboratories entirely," another "brought their internal research to a close and are experimenting with external collaborations on a smaller scale," and a third "markedly decreased the size of their research programs." the nimh's leaders put it more mildly in 2011: "several pharmaceutical companies reduced their investments." that was a retreat, and it was uneven. it was not an industry-wide abandonment, and the record did not stand still afterward. in september 2024 the fda approved xanomeline-trospium for schizophrenia. the sponsor was a major drug company, and the fda called it the first antipsychotic that targets cholinergic receptors instead of dopamine receptors. a systematic review counted 89 psychiatric drug trials in phase iii as of june 1, 2024. the retreat is real history, but "have abandoned," said as a description of the field in 2026, goes further than the record we read.
assertion by assertion
| assertion | verdict | what the record says |
|---|---|---|
| major drug companies have abandoned research on new psychiatric drugs | overstated | a 2013 cerebrum review records a full lab closure at one major company, the end of in-house research (with some external collaboration kept) at a second, and steep cuts at a third, all within about 2010 to 2013. nimh leadership in 2011 called it 'reduced investments' by 'several' companies. neither source gives dollar figures or says the whole industry left the field. [1][2] |
| the retreat is still the state of things today: major companies are not bringing new psychiatric drugs to market | false | on september 26, 2024 the fda approved xanomeline-trospium for schizophrenia, a drug that works by a new mechanism. the sponsor was a major drug company. this one approval contradicts a blanket present-tense claim. it does not show how much the industry as a whole spends. [3] |
| psychiatric drug development has largely stopped | false | a systematic review found 89 psychiatric drug trials in phase iii as of june 1, 2024: 25 for depressive disorders, 22 for neurocognitive disorders, 11 for anxiety disorders, 9 for schizophrenia, and smaller numbers for other conditions. the review does not break these down by sponsor, so it can't say how many are run by major companies rather than smaller ones. [4] |
| the companies pulled back because the science was seen as immature and too risky | confirmed | both reviews give the same reasons: no validated drug targets, poor animal models, no biomarkers, and low success rates. the 2011 piece says only 8% of central nervous system drug candidates that enter clinical trials reach approval. this is the context the speaker's point rests on. [1][2] |
both directions
for the speaker: the speaker is pointing at a real, documented event. leading psychiatric researchers, including a former nimh director, wrote in peer-reviewed venues that major companies closed or shrank their psychiatric research. one closed its labs "entirely," and another ended its in-house work. the nimh's leadership called it a crisis in central nervous system drug development. the reasons they gave (no validated targets, weak animal models, no biomarkers, an 8% approval rate for candidates entering trials) suggest the pullback was a deliberate judgment about the science, not a passing budget decision.
against: "abandoned" says the work stopped, and the sources describe something else. nimh leadership in 2011 called it "reduced investments" by "several" companies. even the strongest account says only one major company closed its labs entirely. another kept external collaborations going, and another cut back without leaving. the record after 2013 also cuts against a present-tense reading. a major company sponsored the 2024 fda approval of a schizophrenia drug with a new mechanism, and there were 89 psychiatric phase iii trials under way in mid-2024. said in 2026 with no date attached, the claim describes a 2010 to 2013 retreat as if it were still the state of the field.
what this cannot say
companies don't publish what they spend on research for each disease area, so neither we nor the sources can say how far spending fell or whether it has come back to 2009 levels. the reviews that document the retreat are expert accounts, not audited figures. the 2024 pipeline review doesn't name sponsors, so we can't split the 89 trials between major companies and smaller biotech firms. some of what looks like a return may be major companies licensing or buying drugs that smaller firms developed. that would fit a narrower version of the claim: big companies may have stopped early-stage discovery in-house while still taking drugs through late-stage trials and approval. the records we read can't settle that. we also didn't fetch the earlier 2010 and 2011 news reports the reviews cite. and we don't know which companies or what time period the speaker had in mind.
sources, each one fetched and read
- Psychiatric drug development: diagnosing a crisis. Cerebrum, 2013. PMC3662213 What we read there: says that over the past three years the industry significantly cut investment in psychiatric treatments: one major company 'closed their psychiatric laboratories entirely,' another 'markedly decreased the size of their research programs,' and a third 'brought their internal research to a close and are experimenting with external collaborations on a smaller scale.' Fetched 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3662213/
- Translating discoveries into medicine: psychiatric drug development in 2011. Neuropsychopharmacology, 2011;37(1):281-283. PMC3238058 What we read there: 'several pharmaceutical companies reduced their investments in psychiatric drug development', part of a 'crisis in central nervous system (CNS) drug development'; only 8% of CNS candidates that enter clinical trials are approved. Fetched 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3238058/
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FDA approves drug with new mechanism of action for treatment of schizophrenia. Press announcement, September 26, 2024 What we read there: approves xanomeline and trospium chloride for schizophrenia, described as the first antipsychotic targeting cholinergic receptors rather than dopamine receptors; the approval was granted to a major pharmaceutical company. Fetched 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200). https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-drug-new-mechanism-action-treatment-schizophrenia
- Overview of psychiatric medications in the pipeline in phase III trials as of June 1, 2024: a systematic review. Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience, 2024. PMC11424068 What we read there: 'As of June 1, 2024, a total of 89 pipeline drug trials were identified': 25 depressive disorders, 22 neurocognitive disorders, 11 anxiety disorders, 9 schizophrenia, 5 PTSD, 5 bipolar disorders, plus smaller numbers in other categories. Fetched 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11424068/
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