Alto Neuroscience Highlights Invited Review in American Journal of Psychiatry Establishing Neuroplasticity as a Core Driver of Psychiatric Disease and Treatment

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Key Terms

neuroplasticity medical

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change its wiring and strength of connections in response to experience, injury, or treatment—like a city that reroutes and upgrades roads to handle new traffic. For investors, it matters because therapies, devices, or programs that harness or enhance this adaptability can improve patient outcomes, extend treatment markets, and influence clinical trial success, regulatory chances, and long-term revenue potential.

synaptic medical

Relating to a synapse, the tiny contact point where one nerve cell passes signals to another; think of it like the plug-and-socket or handshake that lets brain cells communicate. For investors, “synaptic” describes therapies, diagnostics or research that target these signal connections—areas often linked to treatments for neurological or psychiatric conditions—so progress or setbacks can affect a company’s development timeline, regulatory chances and market potential.

biomarkers medical

Biomarkers are measurable indicators found in the body, such as substances in blood or tissues, that reveal information about health or disease. For investors, they can signal how well a medical treatment is working or whether a disease is developing, helping to assess the potential success or risks of healthcare companies or innovations. Think of biomarkers as biological signals that provide clues about a person’s health status.

pharmacologic medical

Pharmacologic describes anything related to drugs — how a medicine works in the body, the effects it produces, and the dose needed to get those effects. For investors, pharmacologic details matter because they indicate a treatment’s likely benefits, side effects, and how easy it will be to use or approve; think of it as whether a key fits a lock and how well it turns, which affects a drug’s real-world value and commercial potential.

neuromodulatory medical

Neuromodulatory describes treatments or technologies that change how nerve cells communicate to increase, decrease or re-tune activity in brain or peripheral nerve circuits, using drugs, implanted or external devices, or electrical/chemical signals. For investors it matters because these approaches can address chronic neurological and psychiatric conditions that are hard to treat, potentially creating large markets but also carrying clinical, regulatory and reimbursement risks—think of it like adjusting the thermostat or volume on a complex control system.

ptsd medical

PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, is a mental health condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event, leading to ongoing feelings of fear, anxiety, or distress. For investors, understanding PTSD is important because widespread psychological impacts can influence market behavior, cause sudden shifts in confidence, or affect economic stability during times of collective trauma or crisis.

precision psychiatry platform medical

A precision psychiatry platform is a technology system that gathers medical, biological, and behavioral data to help match individuals with the most likely effective mental-health treatments, much like a GPS recommends the best route based on current traffic. It matters to investors because platforms that reduce trial-and-error care can improve patient outcomes, lower costs, speed product adoption, and create scalable services or software that can generate recurring revenue and competitive advantage.

02/03/2026 - 08:27 AM

– The review provides strong scientific rationale to support Alto’s drug development approach leveraging its Precision Psychiatry Platform –

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Alto Neuroscience, Inc. (“Alto”) (NYSE: ANRO), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel precision medicines for neuropsychiatric disorders, today announced the publication of a review, "Brain Neuroplasticity Mechanisms in Psychiatric Illnesses and in the Development of Novel Treatments," in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The review was co-authored by members of Alto Neuroscience’s leadership team, Patricio O’Donnell, M.D., Ph.D, and Amit Etkin, M.D., Ph.D., as well as Husseini Manji, M.D., former global head of therapeutics, neuroscience at Janssen and a member of Alto’s board of directors.

The article consolidates extensive clinical and translational evidence demonstrating that disrupted neuroplasticity—spanning synaptic, cellular, and circuit-level dysfunction—is a shared biological driver across multiple high-burden psychiatric disorders, including major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD, and addiction.

The review concludes that therapeutic efficacy across pharmacologic, neuromodulatory, and behavioral interventions consistently converges on restoration of neuroplasticity, supporting plasticity as a causal, measurable, and druggable mechanism, rather than a descriptive or correlational concept. This framework helps explain both treatment resistance and durable clinical response, and provides a unifying biological rationale for next-generation psychiatric drug development.

The authors further highlight a critical industry gap: the historical absence of translatable biomarkers that directly index plasticity changes in humans. Addressing this gap is positioned as essential to improving patient stratification, accelerating development timelines, and increasing probability of clinical success—core elements of Alto’s precision psychiatry platform.

“These insights validate Alto’s strategy of pairing therapies with objective, circuit-level biomarkers,” said Amit Etkin, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief executive officer at Alto Neuroscience. “Moreover, we believe this publication underscores Alto’s leadership in translating rigorous neuroscience into differentiated, biomarker-driven clinical programs—which underpin the Company’s long-term platform value and relevance across multiple large psychiatric indications.”

The article appears in the American Journal of Psychiatry (2026), and can be found online here.

About Alto Neuroscience

Alto Neuroscience is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a mission to redefine psychiatry by leveraging neurobiology to develop personalized and highly effective treatment options. Alto’s Precision Psychiatry Platform™ measures brain biomarkers by analyzing EEG activity, neurocognitive assessments, wearable data, and other factors to better identify which patients are more likely to respond to Alto product candidates. Alto’s clinical-stage pipeline includes novel drug candidates in bipolar depression, major depressive disorder, treatment resistant depression (TRD), and schizophrenia, and other mental health conditions.

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