Psychedelic medicines keep showing enormous therapeutic potential in clinical research.
And the implications might be starting to disrupt traditional pharmaceuticals.
What’s happening:
- Johnson and Johnson’s FDA approved esketamine nasal spray, known as Spravato, recently was shown in new clinical research to be more effective for treatment resistant depression than popular anti depressant medication Quetiapine
- The clinical data suggests that Spravato led to better outcomes for patients after two months when compared to Quetiapine
Why it matters:
- Treatment resistant depression is a very difficult indication to treat and esketamine is showing significant promise for better outcomes for patients
- Spravato was Johnson and Johnson’s fastest growing drug globally in their ‘Neuroscience’ medicine portfolio according to their latest publicly disclosed numbers
- Spravato is widely thought of as the first psychedelic derived medicine to be commercialized by a major pharmaceutical company in the United States
Yes, but:
- Esketamine is not considered to be a classic psychedelic by many given it is not a naturally occurring psychoactive compound
Going deeper:
- Psychedelic derived medicines are closer than ever to FDA approval after the recent positive clinical data from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies Phase III trial focused on MDMA for treating PTSD
- Publicly listed psychedelic medicine companies have been attracting notable investors as of late, including legendary Wall Street hedge fund manager Steve Cohen
