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Audio Interview

Mental health disorders: recent advancements (2026)

Published on January 28, 2026   14 min

Other Talks in the Playlist: Annual Interviews

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Interviewer: With us today is Phillip D. Harvey, Professor of psychiatry at the University of Miami, who is a leading authority on cognition, schizophrenia and severe mental illness. Author of more than 1000 publications and recipient of numerous major awards, Prof. Harvey joins us today to discuss recent advancements in mental health research. Prof. Harvey, thank you so much for your time today. Prof. Harvey: You're welcome. To start, there have been a number of really important developments in the immediate past in terms of mental health treatment that have emerged. First is a brand new antipsychotic treatment, which has a completely novel mechanism of action. It is the first antipsychotic medication that doesn't block the dopamine receptor. Since it doesn't block the dopamine receptor, it means that it doesn't have the adverse event profile that dopamine-blocking antipsychotics have, such as extrapyramidal symptoms, tardive dyskinesia, etc. This drug is a muscarinic M1/M4 agonist. It was previously developed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, but proved intolerable until a medicinal chemistry advance came forward, which attached an M1 antagonist that doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier to xanomeline. The new combination xanomeline/trospium chloride actually blocks the peripheral side effects that made xanomeline intolerable. This medication is very important because the muscarinic M1 receptor system is involved in cognition, and cognitive impairment is a major feature of schizophrenia and multiple treatments targeting

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Mental health disorders: recent advancements (2026)

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