Ad Scientiam announces an agreement with Johnson & Johnson Innovation to develop a digital solution for the assessment of major depressive episodes

Ad Scientiam today announced a partnership agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV to develop a smartphone-based medical device to predict response to antidepressant treatment in real life. The agreement was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. It affects nearly 300 million people of all ages, all walks of life and all countries. People with depression suffer from great moral distress and have great difficulty performing daily tasks, sometimes with very serious consequences for relationships with relatives and friends.

Although currently available antidepressant drugs have been shown to be effective, around one third of patients will respond poorly to treatment. This is called treatment-resistant depression.