Let's get the party started #ps2023 @PsychedelicSci

First up, the Industry/business briefing Lewis Goldberg opens the briefing, noting the hard work that has preceded today and that we're on the brink of psychedelic-assisted therapies becoming available

𝗣𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘀 & 𝗙𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗺𝘆𝗮𝗹𝗴𝗶𝗮

🌍Fibromyalgia (FM) affect 210 million people
❤️‍🩹Current treatments don't work well
🏥 Three trials have started

🧵 Psychedelics for FM
blossomanalysis.com/topic/fibromya… FM is a complex and misunderstood medical condition characterized by chronic widespread pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and cognitive symptoms

The exact cause of FM remains unknown, but it is believed to involve a combination of genetic and environmental factors

Ketanserin can stop trip effects 🛑 after a psychedelic is already ingested

It was known that taking ketanserin before could prevent a trip, now it is shown to rapidly stop an ongoing trip

doi.org/10.1093/ijnp/p… 1/7 Anna Becker & co from the Liechti Lab (in collaboration w/ @mindmedco) gave 24 participants 100µg LSD followed by 40mg ketanserin 1 hour later

At the 3.5-hour mark, the subjective effects were gone (instead of 8.5 hours, a 60% reduction)

But what is even ketanserin? 2/7

How do psychedelics work in the brain?

This & more in the latest update on the latest psychedelic research 🧵 1/9 .@kwanalexc et al review the neuroscience of psychedelics

It covers the chemistry, receptors and molecular signalling of psychedelics, as well as recent insights into how psychedelics modulate neurons and neural circuits

doi.org/10.1038/s41593… 2/9

𝗣𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘀 & 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰

Music and psychedelics often go hand-in-hand

With the music enhancing the psychedelic experience ('the hidden therapist')

Here is our breakdown of the 10 most interesting papers 🧵1/8

blossomanalysis.com/top-10-article… Psychedelics themselves influence how we experience music

Research by Frederick Barrett et al. finds that LSD enhances music-evoked emotions

I.e. the same music, whilst under the influence, evoked a stronger emotional reaction 2/8

Last month in Psychedelic Research

🍄 Largest published trial with psilocybin to date
💉 Positives for ketamine and alcoholism but not PTSD
📸 Flashbacks in clinical research with LSD

🧵 & 📃 1/6 Psychedelic Research January 2022
blossomanalysis.com/psychedelic-re… Psychedelic research hit the ground running at the turn of the new year

@jamesrucker et al. found that psilocybin can be administered safely in up to 6 people simultaneously in the largest published trial with psilocybin 2/6

Psychedelics: A Solution to a Global Mental Health Crisis? Not likely.

Psychedelics are poised to be a paradigm shift in mental healthcare, but will this shift have a global impact?

We discuss some reasons why this may not be the case

blossomanalysis.com/psychedelics-a…

🧵 & 📰 1/8 We may be over-optimistic regarding the potential reach of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT)

Many are being led to believe that psychedelics are a silver bullet aimed at global mental health 2/8

How can we make psychedelics at scale?

We interviewed Berra Yazar-Klosinski, CSO @MAPSPBC

The impetus?
The open-source publication of making MDMA at scale in 4 steps

🧵1/11 Let's start with the research

The method described allows MAPS (or their CRO partner) to synthesize 5kg of MDMA

That comes in at 30.000 individual doses

𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀

🧶Methodological challenges in clinical trials
🎆Mystical experiences x wellbeing in recreational use
🐸Novel 5-MeO-DMT formulation proves safe

🧵Psychedelic Research Briefing 49 '21 📰1/8

blossomanalysis.com/research-brief… 🥼Psychedelic trials offer unique methodological challenges

@JacobSAday & co tackle them in a recent pre-print

Some of the issues:

1) Difficulty masking, participants know if they have gotten a high-dose

2) Positive media of clinical benefits influences expectations

2/8

Live from @HorizonsConf we will be reporting on the talks today 'Focus on Clinical Research' 1/many Anthony Bossis kicked off the day with some moving words

"We're at our best when seeking"

"We're at our best when we collaborate to try to heal one another. And to heal this very fragile planet"

𝗣𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻

Depression (MDD & TRD) affects 260 million people

30% don't respond to treatments

Psychedelics show promise in early trials

🧵&📫 1/14

blossomanalysis.com/topic/depressi… There are estimated to be over 264 million people experiencing depression each year

It accounts for 7.5% of all years lived with a disability (YLDs)

Making it more than twice the burden of anxiety

How can psychedelics help? 2/14

𝗣𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗼𝗰𝘆𝗯𝗶𝗻 𝘅 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻

As everyone is eagerly awaiting @COMPASSPathway's Phase IIb trials, we recapped studies that looked at depression & psilocybin

We were surprised that the total number of participants was only 195

blossomanalysis.com/key-psilocybin… 1/8 This pales in comparison to the 233 participants in the COMP360 trial, or to many of the (much more easily available) ketamine trials

Noted should be that of the 195 participants. 151 were part of randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) and only 44 in open-label trials

Why so? 2/8

Last month in 𝗣𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵

💊 Microdosing LSD leads to resynchronization patterns
😫 How psychedelics can help with chronic pain
👩‍🏫 Parents approve of ketamine use

🧵 & 📭 psychedelic research October 2021

blossomanalysis.com/psychedelics-r… 1/10 One experiment gave people a medium dose of LSD (50μg)

It found that LSD similarly affected the passive and active stream of thought towards deviant but meaningful thought patterns 2/10