Few things in life work out the first time you try them, and antidepressants are no exception. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, it’s not uncommon for patients to try at least two such medications before finding an effective one. But artificial intelligence is on its way to solving that problem.
Researchers at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. , have revamped MeAgainMeds.com , their free tool that uses AI to recommend antidepressants to patients based on their demographics and medical history.
Farrokh Alemi, PhD , a professor of health informatics at GMU’s College of Public Health , spearheaded the effort. “Me Again Meds, it’s a play on the fact that many people who take antidepressants feel that they are not themselves,” Alemi tells Fortune . “We want to help them with a selection of an antidepressant that has fewer side effects for them and is more effective for them.
” The pursuit is personal. After losing a loved one to suicide, Alemi has in recent years dedicated the bulk of his research to AI in depression management . Alemi and his colleagues have published several studies in conjunction with the development of Me Again Meds.
In research published in 2021 in the journal eClinicalMedicine , they used the OptumLabs health insurance database to analyze nearly 3.7 million U.S.
patients who had been diagnosed with major depression and were taking antidepressants. From 2001–2018, patients collectively recorded more than 10.2 million t.