Enabling responsible industry–academic collaboration in mental health research and the involvement of people with lived experience

Summary There is an urgent need for more effective and better-tolerated treatments for mental illness. Achieving this requires responsible collaboration between academia, healthcare professionals, industry and people with lived experience. However, regulatory and compliance frameworks can make early-stage, non-promotional collaboration difficult, particularly when discussions are exploratory and multidisciplinary. Drawing on experience from the UK Research and Innovation Mental Health Platform’s attempted collaboration with an international pharmaceutical company, this article describes how engagement was delayed and constrained by uncertainty over regulatory interpretation, contractual requirements and differing compliance processes across jurisdictions. These barriers risk excluding people with lived experience, narrowing scientific dialogue and reducing opportunities to align innovation with patient priorities. Robust regulation remains essential to protect patients, maintain public trust and prevent inappropriate influence. However, frameworks should better distinguish promotional activity from transparent, pre-competitive scientific exchange enabling proportionate, inclusive and responsible early dialogue between academia, healthcare, industry and patient communities.