Pioneering the discovery, development, and delivery of transformative treatments for brain disorders.

Over 50% of the world’s population will suffer from a serious central nervous system (CNS) disorder at some point in their lives. Neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders strike at the very core of our identity, and inflict higher treatment and productivity costs than cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes combined. Years of life are lost for these patients, and many face the future with a severe disability that impedes everyday living. While therapeutic options exist, many patients remain untreated or inadequately treated, and continue to live with persistent, disabling symptoms. More treatment options are needed to support patients living with CNS disorders.

Despite the unmet need, bringing truly innovative treatments to patients with CNS conditions has been challenging. For example, the antidepressants, anxiolytics, and antipsychotic drugs widely-used today are mechanistically similar to their 1950s prototypes – and with good reason. Changing brain function in specific, targeted ways is far from simple, due to the astounding complexity of cell types and their interconnections in the nervous system.

MapLight was founded by internationally recognized research leaders in psychiatry and neuroscience to address the lack of available, circuit specific pharmacotherapies for patients. Our discovery platform holds the potential to fill this void by identifying neural circuits causally linked to disease and targeting them for therapeutic modulation. Utilizing this approach, we have advanced a robust pipeline of product candidates for some of the most challenging central nervous system conditions such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease psychosis, and autism spectrum disorder.