Ketamine Effects on Learning in Eating Disorders (KETTLE)

This open-label, Phase II trial (n=20) will study the effects of a single intravenous (IV) dose of ketamine (35mg/70kg over 40 minutes) on cognitive flexibility in adolescents and young adults (ages 16–26) who are medically hospitalised for anorexia nervosa or atypical anorexia nervosa.

The study, led by Dr Amanda Downey at the University of California, San Francisco, aims to assess whether ketamine can improve patients’ ability to form new, positive associations with food, potentially making hospitalisation less distressing.

Researchers will measure changes in eating disorder symptoms before and after ketamine infusion, using a reversal learning task to evaluate cognitive flexibility. Participants must have a confirmed diagnosis of anorexia nervosa or atypical anorexia nervosa, be medically hospitalised for malnutrition, and have had no changes to psychiatric medications in the month prior to enrolment. The study is estimated to run from February 2025 to June 2026.

Topic Eating Disorders
Compound Ketamine
Country United States of America
Visit trial
Status Not yet recruiting
Results Published No
Start date 07 February 2025
End date 01 June 2026
Phase Phase II
Design Open
Type Interventional
Generation First
Participants 20
Sex All
Age 16- 26
Therapy Yes

Trial Details

This is a single site, single dose clinical trial of intravenous (IV) ketamine for medically hospitalized adolescents and young adults with anorexia nervosa or atypical anorexia nervosa. Eating disorder symptoms will be measured pre- and post-ketamine infusion. Investigators hypothesize that ketamine will increase cognitive flexibility, making medical hospitalizations less distressing by improving the ability to learn new, positive associations with food.

Trial Number NCT06736769

Sponsors & Collaborators

University of California San Francisco
At UCSF, there are two research teams dedicated to the study of psychedelics; the Neuroscape Psychedelic Division and the Translational Psychedelic Research Program.

Data attribution

A large set of the trials in our database are sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov (CTG). We have modified these post to display the information in a more clear format or to correct spelling mistakes. Our database in actively updated and may show a different status (e.g. completed) if we have knowledge of this update (e.g. a published paper on the study) which isn't reflected yet on CTG. If a trial is not sourced from CTG, this is indicated on this page and you can follow the link to the alternative source of information.