Advancing Real-World Effectiveness Evidence for Rapid-Acting Psychotropic Interventional Drugs (Rapids)

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) intends to publish a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to support the development of a research network to study rapid-acting psychotropic interventional drugs (RAPIDs), such as ketamine, esketamine, psilocybin, and other emerging treatments for serious mental illnesses.

Preliminary studies suggest that RAPIDs can produce clinically meaningful improvements in mental health outcomes, in some cases following a single dose. However, important questions remain regarding their effectiveness, safety, durability of benefit, and implementation in routine clinical practice. As these interventions move toward broader use, rigorous real-world evidence is needed to identify how RAPIDs can be delivered safely, effectively, and sustainably across diverse patients, providers, and health care settings.

The primary goal of this NOFO is to generate actionable evidence on the clinical effectiveness, safety, and implementation of RAPIDs. The resulting evidence from this study will help determine how RAPIDs can be safely and effectively integrated into clinical care and may inform future approaches to health care delivery.