A simple brain scan predicts how each patient will respond to ketamine

A brain biomarker measurable via electroencephalography can predict with precision the direction and magnitude of individual ketamine response, according to a study published in Biological Psychiatry by the EEG/ERP Biomarker Qualification Consortium, a collaboration of Cognision and ten pharmaceutical companies. The controlled trial enrolled 24 healthy volunteers who received sub-anesthetic doses of ketamine on two of three randomized visits while completing standardized EEG and event-related potential assessments. The key biomarker was mismatch negativity amplitude (MMNa), which revealed a paradoxical effect: participants with elevated baseline MMNa showed the expected reduction following ketamine, while those with low baseline MMNa exhibited an unexpected increase. The finding reached statistical significance when data from three additional industry-sponsored studies were pooled. For readers invested in longevity and precision medicine, this represents a fundamental shift: moving beyond one-size-fits-all psychiatry toward individualized neurophysiological predictions that could optimize both clinical outcomes and the design of future trials.