Video: Experts Discuss Use Of Psychedelics In Mental Health Settings

The psychedelics industry has started to gain serious traction and is attracting lots of attention these days. However, what many people may not know is that the sector has been up and running for decades, with various psychedelic substances already being used for medical treatment.

A great deal of research is being conducted and some states are considering accepting the use of psychedelics as a serious treatment option and enabling trials and studies to move forward.

The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies recently revealed promising results from its Phase 3 trial on MDMA for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. After 18 weeks of trial, which involved 90 patients with severe chronic PTSD, 67% of participants in the MDMA-assisted therapy group were no longer diagnosed with PTSD. This compares to the placebo group, in which 32% experienced the same result.

MAPS spokesperson told Benzinga in a recent interview that MDMA could be accepted for use as a legal treatment across the U.S. as early as 2023.

Other recent news from the psychedelics sphere included Novamind Inc. NVMDF and Field Trip Health Ltd. FTRP FTRPF who expanded their footprint in psychedelic clinics, and Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals, which has raised $27 million in a Series A funding round led by Prime Movers Lab.

What Makes DMT special?

More about the potential of psychedelics such as DMT was discussed by Timothy Co, CEO of Entheon Biomedical, during the Benzinga Cannabis Hour, co-hosted by Javier Hasse, Patrick Lane, and Natan Ponieman.

Co explained how conventional treatments for drug addiction are usually insufficient, whereas DMT shows serious potential. According to Co, one of the main advances of DMT over other psychedelics is its flexibility. With DMT you can design “a more flexible type of psychotherapeutic program where instead of trying to get everything done within a very profound eight hours you can have shorter sessions and then intersperse that with psychotherapy.”

Not everyone is prepared to face their “inner demons” at once over a long stretch of time. With DMT, revealing, facing and dealing with problems can be divided into sessions then complemented with professional psychotherapy.

Entheon Biomedical has scheduled a safety trial for the fourth quarter of this year going into the first quarter of 2022, during which time it will partner with the Center For Human Drug Research in the Netherlands.

Advancing Classic Psychedelics

The second guest on the show was Joseph Tucker of MagicMed Industries, who also shared his views about the industry and the company. He explained that MagicMed Industries has a team of “long-time hardcore scientists and drug developers.”

According to Tucker, who holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, if a psychedelics company wants to reach a large number of patients it should focus on advancing classic psychedelics, “You need to modify their structures and modify how they interact with patients,” to get fewer side effects and better efficacy, he said.

Tucker further discussed how biotech is difficult from the perspective of capital markets, because it takes a long time, perhaps even a decade, to develop a product. And then there is a high failure rate of drugs that enter clinical trials. While many might think the process is less challenging with psychedelics, Tucker says no, it’s even more difficult.

Photo by Okan Caliskan on Pixabay