Our Vision
To bring every person suffering from a mental health condition the right treatment for them, right away.
Who we are
Alto Neuroscience is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that integrates the biology of the patient into drug development to improve the lives of people with mental health conditions. Through our AI-enabled biomarker platform, we combine rich sources of information on patients’ brain activity and behavior to rapidly develop highly-effective medicines for targeted populations. We aim to replace today's trial-and-error clinical approach by aligning the right Alto drug with the right patient, redefining psychiatry at a time when the world needs it most.
Our Story
Founded Out of an Immense Need for Innovation
Alto was founded in 2019 by Amit Etkin, MD, PhD. As a Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford, Dr. Etkin was dismayed by the lack of innovation in the treatment of mental health conditions across decades. Psychiatry to this day still operates through a trial-and-error approach. Medications are prescribed based on clinical observations and patients cycle through therapies, hoping eventually one will work. This process can take time, and time has consequences: The longer it takes to find a solution, the greater the personal suffering and more likely an individual is to give up on the process altogether.
Trial and Error Due to Error in the Trials
The root of this problem: People respond to the same drugs in different ways, yet drugs for these conditions have been developed with limited attention to this central challenge. In essence, trial and error is due to an error in the trials themselves. Hence, a better path must exist. The availability of new tools and existing drug candidates, along with a culmination of a decade of field-leading science, compelled Dr. Etkin to leave Stanford and found Alto.
Driven to Help Patients Get Better Faster
At Alto, we believe that we can defeat mental illness by creating precision medicines with the patient in mind. We make highly-effective medicines that work, because we know the patients for whom they work. Through our AI-driven biomarker platform, built on 10 years of data, and our rapidly-advancing pipeline of novel medicines, we aim to get transformative therapies to people sooner, so they can get better faster.
We created Alto because we believe there is a better way. With mental health deteriorating faster than psychiatry's ability to fight it, there’s no time for trial-and-error. It is time for precision.
