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April 22 – 28, 2024
Horizons’ 16th Conference
Horizons’ 16th Conference comes to NYC next month. Set in the New York Academy of Medicine, the event explores the many dimensions of psychedelics including science, medicine, policy, business, culture, and spirituality.
May 8-11, New York City
More Info
Lykos Therapeutics Announces Completion of European Phase 2 Study for MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD
Press Release ↗
“By pursuing FDA approval of MDMA-assisted therapy first, we believe the learnings will be beneficial as we determine our regulatory strategy in the United Kingdom and Europe”, said Lykos CEO Amy Emerson.
PTSD crisis looms as troop shortages take toll on Ukrainian soldiers’ mental health
Kyiv Independent ↗
“Hibadulin said his condition impeded his relationships and education, and that the only treatment that proved effective for him was psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy – a controversial method to cure PTSD illegal in Ukraine but used to a limited extent in some Western countries.”
Insights from the European Medicines Agency’s Psychedelics Workshop: A Pα+ Dispatch
Psychedelic Alpha ↗
Josh explores some of the key themes discussed at the workshop: from regulatory remits and rescheduling through to disentangling pharmacotherapy from psychotherapy, standardisation and its discontents, blinding, and much more.
The Church of the Eagle and the Condor Reaches a Settlement with Federal Agencies Affirming the Religious Right to Use Ayahuasca
Press Release (via Chacruna) ↗
“CEC is the first non-Christian church to receive protection for its spiritual practices regarding Ayahuasca.”
MDMA trials are showing it has promise as a psychiatric medicine
Guardian ↗
“Readers respond to a letter which said that MDMA is not helpful in mental health care”
Nine Lawmakers Ask VA to Report on Its Preparations for MDMA Approval
Read the Letter (PDF) ↗
“We respectfully request that you produce VA’s implementation plan that would be deployable as soon as this novel treatment option is approved for clinical use”, the letter reads.
Psychedelic drugs to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology ↗
Psychedelic drugs to treat eating disorders
UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology ↗
Two new Rapid Response briefings from the UK Parliament’s POST look at the state of the evidence for psychedelics’ use in treating PTSD and eating disorders.
April 15 – 21, 2024
This Week’s Feed, Sponsored by
4th ANNUAL Psychedelic Therapeutics & Drug Development CONFERENCE
The 4th Annual Psychedelic Therapeutics & Drug Development Conference offers a unique opportunity to delve into the rapidly evolving field of psychedelic science and its potential in healthcare. Plenary talks and panel sessions will see a wide range of topics covered including drug scheduling, the future of psychedelic science, clinical trial design, research protocols, pain and psychedelics and precision medicine in mental health care.
May 23-24, Boston
More Info + Registration
The Unlikely Force Behind a Push to Legalize ‘Shrooms’ in New York
NYT ↗
“A lobbying effort led in part by religious groups has state lawmakers considering two different measures that would legalize psilocybin, a drug known as “magic mushrooms.””
GUEST WRITERS
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Are you interested in writing for Psychedelic Alpha? Please reach out to hello@psychedelicalpha.com with a short blurb about yourself, topics you might be interested in writing about, and any published work samples.
Global Perspectives on Psychedelics Regulation
The Regulatory Review ↗
This six-part series will see a new article published each weekday through next Tuesday.
The Bad Trip Detective
Nautilus ↗
“[Jules] Evans doesn’t advocate against psychedelics. But by exposing the hazards that tripping could involve, Evans hopes to temper the prevalent ethos of breezy optimism with a dash of caution.”
The endless quest to replace alcohol
Vox ↗
“From kava to “sleepy girl mocktails,” can anything ever take the place of booze?”
April 8 – 14, 2024
PSYCHEDELIC Culture
Chacruna’s two-day Psychedelic Culture conference fosters conversations around topics including Indigenous Reciprocity & Decolonial Dialogues, Psychedelic Justice, Protection of Sacred Plants & Cultural Traditions, and voices from the Global South. Hosted at the Brava Theater in San Francisco, the event also includes music and meditation circles as well as rapé ceremonies.
April 27-28, San Francisco
More info + tickets
Developing Esketamine (Spravato) and Lessons for Psychedelic Drug Developers with Jaskaran Singh
Psychedelic Alpha ↗
Josh sits down with Jaskaran (‘Jaz’) Singh, Vice President Psychiatry Development at Neurocrine Biosciences. For the purposes of this conversation, however, we focus on Singh’s role in spearheading the development of esketamine for treatment-resistant depression, now marketed as Spravato.
Here, we discuss how Singh’s early work assessing ketamine’s antidepressant effects at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) encouraged him to move into industry; how his team decided to pursue esketamine; lessons learned that might be relevant for psychedelic drug developers; and his broader outlook on the field.
Psychiatry drugs finally have pharma’s attention. Can they keep it?
Biopharma Dive ↗
“Arguably the buzziest area of research are psychedelic compounds. Long dismissed because of thorny legal and scientific issues, psychedelics are being taken more seriously as possible treatments for anxiety, depression and psychosis.”
Seaport Therapeutics Launches with $100 Million Oversubscribed Series A Financing Round to Advance Novel Neuropsychiatric Medicines
Press Release ↗
The company’s pipeline includes SPT-348, “a prodrug of a non-hallucinogenic neuroplastogen in development for the treatment of mood and other neuropsychiatric disorders, [which] leverages Glyph to create a potential first-in-class treatment with improved pharmacokinetics and tolerability compared to conventional psychedelics.”
Almost No One Is Happy With Legal Weed
The Atlantic ↗
Jane C. Hu asks: Will legal psychedelics be any better?
Hu also appeared on Slate’s ‘TBD’ podcast on Sunday in an episode titled, Is America Ready for Legal Psychedelics?
This Real Estate Mogul Is Funding Psychedelics Research to Support the LGBT+ Community
Inside Philanthropy ↗
April 1st, 2024
Coming Soon: Interdimensional Patent Tracker
Interdimensional Patent Tracker
Our friends at Calyx Law are involved in the first US patent application from a transdimensional being. Given the field-defining technologies described in this patent application, we are working with Calyx Law to create our latest free resource: the Interdimensional Patent Tracker.
Explore the TrackerAngermayer et al.’s Enhanced Games Forced to Abandon Ketamine-Assisted Pentathlon (KAP) Due to Frequency of Toilet Breaks
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A day-long LSD-assisted cycle event, Bicycle Day, will replace the ill-fated KAP discipline.
Federal Agencies Urged to Lace Water Coolers with LSD in Productivity Push
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After two rounds of redundancies, a crack team of McKinsey consultants has made a somewhat unorthodox recommendation to federal agencies: LSD-assisted bureaucracy. A pilot program will be carried out at DMV offices.
Drug Developer Skips the Trip Entirely, Unveils Deuterium-Assisted Psychotherapy Candidate
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Initial reports describe the experience, though lacking psychedelics’ characteristic subjective effects, as “heavy” and “somewhat unstable”, but “noticeably patentable”.
Company Receives Notice of Allowance for U.S. Patent Covering Crystalline Polymorphs of Water
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The company announced the claims cover its lead candidate, Polymorph Eau.
NEW: Janet Yellen’s Fungi Cookbook, Magical Meals.
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Fresh from a trip to Beijing, Yellen shares some of her favourite magical meals.
NEW: How to Change Your Mime, Michael Pollan.
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Fresh from a trip to the continent, Pollan takes on the final frontier of ineffability: mime.
Psychedelic Alpha Announces Receipt of Lawsuit from Pharma Co.
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The complaint alleges repeated failures to both capitalise and append ® to SPRAVATO®.
Pα+ Subscriber Benefit: Psychedelic Drug Development Pipeline Dartboard Coming Soon
Psychedelic Drug Development Pipeline ↗
Sling darts at your favourite psychedelic drug candidates!
MDM8: The New Party Drug from the Land Down Under That Has Taken the Country by Storm
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All over America, youths have been heard uttering “nar” with their mates on the way to brekkie at Macca’s.
April 1 – 7, 2024
This Week’s Feed, Sponsored by
Clerkenwell Health
Clerkenwell Health is building the infrastructure for developing and delivering mental health and CNS treatments through their network of hybrid research and care clinics, CRO services and therapist training programme. Based in Central London, Clerkenwell Health offers the only purpose-built commercial clinical research site in Europe dedicated to psychedelic-assisted therapies.
View One-PagerMindMed’s ‘Total Elimination’ of Psychotherapy in LSD Study Stokes Debate Around Its Role in Psychedelic Therapies
Psychedelic Alpha ↗
In March, MindMed scored an FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for its LSD-D-tartrate candidate (MM120) for generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). In this piece, Josh takes a closer look at the company’s claim to have ‘eliminated’ psychotherapy from its Phase 2b study of MM120 and explores how a broader ‘Spravato-isation’ of psychedelic therapies is stoking debate around the contribution of psychotherapy (or lack thereof) in these interventions.
Magic mushrooms should be available on NHS, says Labour MP
The Telegraph ↗
“Charlotte Nichols, who has PTSD, says there is enough evidence to prescribe psilocybin therapy as mental health treatment”
Natural Medicine Advisory Bulletin 10: March 2024
Psychedelic Alpha ↗
Vicente LLP reviews the March 15th Colorado Natural Medicine Advisory Board meeting, where draft rules for Facilitator licensing and training were discussed.
April 1st Edition of the Psychedelic News Feed
Psychedelic Alpha ↗
Owing to some bizarre headlines from across the psychedelics space, we have compiled a special edition of our Psychedelic News Feed.
FEATURED PSYCHEDELIC JOBS
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- Senior Researcher at Arcadia Medicine
- Postdoc Research Fellow working on psychedelics for SUDs, among other things, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- People Operations Manager at Lykos Therapeutics
Explore more roles and join our Talent Network: ↗ Psychedelic Alpha Job Board
She had a severe brain injury—so her husband turned to an unprecedented therapy
National Geographic ↗
April 12: The Therapeutic Use of Psychedelic Drugs: Legal, Policy and Neuroscientific Perspectives Symposium
American University ↗
FREE EVENT
Read more about the symposium, at which our Editor-at-Large Graham Pechenik will be speaking, via this American University article. Free registration is available.
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