People across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough with severe mental health conditions can now take part in groundbreaking clinical trials assessing the effects of empathogens and psychedelics.
The trials aim to determine if these substances can aid those with treatment-resistant mental health conditions.
The initiative has been set up by the new Cambridge Psychedelic Research group, a collaboration between CPFT, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and the University of Cambridge.
They are the first in the region to conduct studies involving these promising treatments, after being granted a licence by the Home Office.
Around 30 per cent of people suffering from severe mental illnesses find that conventional treatments are not effective enough.
Scientific research increasingly suggests that some psychoactive medications, when administered safely and supported by trained specialists, can aid recovery and enhance quality of life.
The new research group consists of clinicians and research staff from CPFT's Windsor Research Unit in Fulbourn, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Cambridge Clinical Research Facility, based at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
Their first study is a clinical trial, sponsored by Transcend Therapeutics, that evaluates the effects of TSND-201 – a rapid-acting neuroplastogen – on people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Dr Liliana Galindo, CPFT consultant psychiatrist, affiliated assistant professor at the University of Cambridge, and principal investigator, said: “We are excited to join the growing psychedelic research field with this new local partnership and help to develop the next wave of neuropsychiatric treatments.
"There is great potential to treat persistent mental health conditions that are resistant to standard therapies."
An estimated one in ten people in the UK will experience PTSD in their lifetime.
Current treatments such as talking therapies and antidepressant medications do not work for everyone.
TSND-201 is a non-hallucinogenic, rapid-acting neuroplastogen, which could potentially help those who have not responded to conventional treatments.
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