Are there ways to accelerate the recovery from depression via novel pharmacological antidepressants? Are there any scientists making substantial progress in the development of far more effective antidepressants? Are there any groups of people interested in developing antidepressants based on genetic tests?

Depression: How effective are antidepressants?

"It can take a long time for a medication to start helping some people. Other people still have symptoms even after trying several different medications. They can then discuss the alternative treatment options with their doctor."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK361016/
Wikipedia maintains a list of potential antidepressants currently under investigation.

Of some note, the US FDA recently approved esketamine for clinical use.  After being banned in the 1970s, psychedelics have become available for research purposes again in the past 20 years or so.  Esketamine, a derivative of the psychedelic drug ketamine, which was already approved as an anesthetic, is an early result of this resurgence.  Other psychedelics (eg, psylocibin, LSD, mescaline, DMT, MDMA) are being investigated as potential treatment for a variety of mental disorders, including depression.

Also of note, transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a relatively new treatment for some types of depression.  The notion that depression comes in several forms or sub-types, responsive to different treatment options, has lead to the investigation of a variety of genetic tests that may help personalize treatment in the future.  Additionally, several labs (example) are investigating the possibility of using fMRI to distinguish such sub-types using brain scans.