Psychedelics News November 2019

Why Psychedelics Could be the Future of Anorexia Treatment

Source: Medium (Elemental) | By: Tessa Love | Published: 6 Nov 2019

The Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at John Hopkins University has received $17 million in funding to research psychedelics for a variety of mental health disorders, this article discusses psychedelics as a treatment for anorexia nervosa.

Anorexia affects 30 million Americans (or incidence of 8 people per 100,000 per year, source).

“[A]norexia Nervosa is responsible for more deaths than any other mental illness. This is due, in part, to the physically degrading nature of the illness, but it’s also attributable to the fact that medical professionals have yet to find an effective treatment for the disorder. As of now, the accepted treatment consists of supervised weight gain coupled with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which aims to challenge and change the thinking and behaviors behind the issue. The relapse rate for the treatment is up to 52%, according to a 2017 review.”

The study at John Hopkins will look like earlier studies with psilocybin. It will involve two sessions with 20mg of psilocybin and extensive counseling before and after.

The ego-dissolution or lowering of the self-talk that results from taking psychedelics might be a positive indicator that this type of treatment will work for anorexia.

Find out more about this study here.

Can a Trip-Free Psychedelic Still Help People With Depression?

Source: Vice | By: Shayla Love | Published: 7 Nov 2019

Psychedelics seem to have a therapeutic effect (as per research by John Hopkins University and Imperial College London), but what is causing these positive changes? The question is being asked if you could get (some of) the benefits without the (often intense) trip.

“Researchers are now attempting an uncoupling: What, exactly, is responsible for the positive mental health outcomes? Which components of a psychedelic treatment are required, and could any be removed? Initiatives from academia, government, and the biotech industry are beginning to dissect psychedelics to see if they can be tweaked, optimized, or even stripped of the psychedelic experience altogether—and still be an effective treatment.”

The study as proposed by Charles Raison from the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison wants to investigate if effects still endure if the participant doesn’t remember the trip. To start he will have people not remember the trip (by using midazolam, a sedative that produces amnesia).

“They’ll first test what doses of midazolam puts healthy volunteers in this state. Then, they’ll repeat the process with a group of people who have depression and compare those who take psilocybin and remember it to those who don’t. If both groups have equal benefit from the psilocybin, it would suggest that you don’t actually need the memory of the experience for it to be used for depression.”

A next step would be to test the effects on people who don’t even experience the trip (i.e. who are unconscious). Further research and new (synthetic) compounds could then possibly repeat that type of effect (e.g. lessening depressive symptoms without the trip).

Earlier research shows that this line of thinking does have merit. Research using BOL (which differs one atom from LSD, and was also invented by Albert Hofmann) shows that it helped people with cluster headaches. The chemical structure of psychedelics does also look very similar to other headache medicines (sumatriptan, but also melatonin).

One of the companies interested in this new way of non-trip drugs is Entheogenix Biosciences (from ATAI Life Sciences and Cyclica).

“Entheogenix will be studying several psychedelics—ketamine and DMT as well as psilocybin—and evaluate which parts of their chemical structures are associated with mental health benefits. “Then we can start taking out those pieces associated with hallucinations, for example,” Rao said. “We can design new compounds that presumably don’t hit those pieces but maybe maintain some of the other pieces of pharmacology that are critical, particularly those around neuroplasticity.” “

Not only Entheogenix is interested in this area, DARPA is also investigating psychedelics to help veterans with PTSD.

Chris Timmermann from Imperial College London does argue that the psychedelic experience might be a necessary part of the experience. Even here, we still need to find the language and specifics of what works.

Time will tell!

Synthesis announces the appointment of leading Psychedelics Neuroscientist, Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, to its Advisory Board

Source: Synthesis | By: Jess McCulloch | Published: 11 Nov 2019

Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris joins the advisory board of Synthesis. The former is a leading psychedelics researcher, the latter a company that offers psychedelic retreats (psilocybin) in The Netherlands.

The new advisory position follows an earlier partnership with regard to research done at Imperial College London.

Cyclica Launches Joint Venture Using Ai to Develop Drugs for Mental Health

Source: betakit | By: Denise Paglinawan | Published: 18 Nov 2019

“Toronto-based biotechnology company Cyclica has partnered with global biotechnology platform ATAI Life Sciences to develop drugs for mental health disorders, using artificial intelligence to design new compounds inspired by positive psychedelic properties.”

ATAI Life Sciences and Cyclica have together founded Entheogenix Biosciences. They will use the complementary knowledge of both to find new drugs for depression and other disabling mental disorders.

“Cyclica’s AI-augmented end-to-end drug discovery platforms, Ligand Design and Ligand Express, will be used to design advanced lead-like molecules with the preferred properties, while providing a holistic understanding of a molecule’s activity.”

Brain wave study explains why a DMT trip is like entering an alternate reality

Source: Inverse | By: Emma Betuel | Published: 19 Nov 2019

This popular science article describes the findings of this article: ‘Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG‘.

“Interestingly, they also found that specific combinations of waves during the trip could explain the different emotional and physical sensations of the DMT experience. The visual effects seemed most closely tied to the increases in theta waves, and a decrease in alpha waves. The bodily effects were associated with decreases in beta waves, and the emotional effects were associated with an increase in “signal diversity” — basically chaotic or unpredictable patterns of brainwaves.”

Studying the effects of DMT is one way of looking at consciousness and learning more about how it’s ‘made’ or what it consists of.

How MAPS broke from the pack of profit-oriented psychedelic industry

Source: Shroom Stocks | By: Ethan Reyes | Published: 19 Nov 2019

A short article on how MAPS has stayed a non-profit, first because none would possibly invest in such a cause/company during Reagan, second because that is how they keep the profit motive out of the discussion. Alas, the article doesn’t do much comparing to Compass Pathways and other for-profit companies.

ATAI’s Chief Scientific Officer addresses the future of psychiatric drug development at ISAD19

Source: ATAI Life Sciences | By: ATAI Life Sciences | Published: 23 Nov 2019

The CSO of ATAI spoke at the ISAD19, the European conference on affective (mood) disorders.

“Speaking to an audience of leading experts and academics in the field, Dr. Rao began by outlining the unique approach of ATAI’s biotech platform—which currently includes drugs with a diversity of pharmacology for the treatment of depression, anxiety and addiction— and describing how ATAI is bridging psychiatric drug development’s “Valley of Death”.” The Valley of Death described lies between the discovery of new drugs/uses and Phase 3, so entails pre-clinical and Phase 1 and 2 where there is not enough funding.

ATAI has a diverse portfolio of companies and is looking at ways to change/improve brain function for people with affective disorders. At the conference, Srinivas Rao describes some of the ways they are trying to tackle this with psilocybin, ketamine, etifoxine, and a new company EntheogeniX (which is researching new (psychedelic) compounds).

Psilocybin for major depression granted Breakthrough Therapy by FDA

Source: New Atlas | By: Rich Haridy | Published: 24 Nov 2019

News of the acceleration of research into psilocybin for major depressive disorder (MDD). This time coordinated by the Usona Institute, the trial is exploring the antidepressant properties of a single psilocybin dose in treating patients with major depressive disorder.

This is again positive news that research is moving forward and has support from the government (at least in this research phase).

The Breakthrough Therapy designation is intended to expedite the development and review of drugs for serious or life-threatening conditions. One in three that gets this designation makes it to market.

“The Usona Phase 2 trial plans to enroll 80 subjects, randomized to receive either a single active dose of psilocybin or an active placebo containing niacin. The methodology being trialed is similar to other psilocybin therapy studies, with a number of preparatory psychotherapy sessions preceding the active psychedelic dose, and a number of integrative psychotherapy sessions afterward.”

The end of this trial is expected in by early 2021, the larger phase 3 trial follows after that.

Press-release from Usona here.

Psychedelic studies on depression recruiting subjects in the Netherlands

Source: Stichting OPEN | By: OPEN Foundation | Published: 25 Nov 2019

The large psilocybin-assisted therapy trial (sponsored by Compass Pathways) for treatment-resistant depression is recruiting patients. This call is for patients in The Netherlands.

The article also mentions the other research efforts that are ongoing around Europe.

GABA Therapeutics receives approval to begin phase I clinical trials

Source: ATAI Life Sciences | By: ATAI Life Sciences | Published: 29 Nov 2019

“This week, GABA Therapeutics, a recent addition to the ATAI Life Sciences portfolio, announced that it has received approval to conduct a phase I clinical trial of the anxiolytic etifoxine in Melbourne, Australia. The Alfred Ethics Committee approved a phase I, two-stage, double-blind, placebo-controlled single and multiple dose study to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and safety of oral etifoxine in normal healthy volunteers. Dosing for the study will begin in January 2020 and will be conducted at Nucleus Network in Melbourne, Victoria.”

The importance of the study is to maybe offer an alternative to other medicines used for anxiety (Xanax, Ativan). It should also have fewer side effects.

In a blog post released on the same day the CEO of ATAI, Florian Brand, noted his positivity and the momentum he sees in the psychedelic medicine field.