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An episode of podcast was enough to attract author and successful investor Tim Ferriss on the theme of psychedelics.
For one of his latest shows, Ferriss interviewed author Michael Pollan about his latest book, "How to Change Your Mind," which describes Pollan's experiments in several trials. psychedelic drugs, including magic mushrooms and LSD. After discussing Pollan's travels and immersed in the science of the apparent effects of drugs on the brain, Ferriss's interest was stung.
On Friday, with the financial support of Ferriss, the researchers will open the doors of the world's first research center devoted exclusively to psychedelics.
Located in London, the Imperial Center for Psychedelic Research will host scientists who are studying the possibility of transforming drugs such as ecstasy, magic mushrooms and LSD into approved medical treatments. Scientists will focus on serious brain diseases that remain difficult to treat, such as depression and anorexia of eating disorders.
"Current treatments do not make the difference – they do not make the difference we need," Business Insider Robin Carhart-Harris, head of the new center and researcher in neuroscience and pharmacology at Imperial College told Business Insider. from London.
Other funders include a Canadian businessman and founder of audiobooks.com, Sanjay Singhal, a banker turned philanthropist and Google advisor, Shamil Chandaria, British executive Anton Bilton and venture capitalist Bohdana Tamas .
Although psychedelics like ayahuasca have played a medical and spiritual role in indigenous cultures around the world for centuries, the new center will be the first official center of its kind.
"These compounds can help treat intractable diseases affecting tens of millions of people and better understand the nature of consciousness itself," Ferris said in a statement.
A wave of renewed interest for psychedelics in medicine
The opening of the center follows a wave of renewed interest in the potential of psychedelics in the treatment of thorny brain diseases such as depression.
Until last month, there was virtually more than one type of anti-depressant approved by the federal government for decades. This medicine is a pill called SSRI. It is usually sold under brands such as Lexapro and Prozac. However, in March, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first new drug against non-SSRI depression: a nasal spray inspired by the semi-psychedelic drug, ketamine.
"Things have really started to get bigger," Carhart-Harris said.
With nearly $ 4 million from its five founding donors, the center's researchers also want to open a clinic. Ideally, the clinic would work as a prototype for future psychedelic medical institutions. Carhart-Harris said he hoped this space would serve as both a clinic for treating the disease and maintaining people's health.
Scientists will support pioneering work on drugs such as magic mushrooms and LSD
In Carhart-Harris' opinion, the new center will help pioneer efforts in studying the medical potential of psychedelics.
Under his leadership, scientists at Imperial College were the first to study whether psilocybin, the main psychoactive component of magic mushrooms, had a positive impact on patients suffering from severe depression. They have also been world leaders in exploring the impacts of LSD on the human brain with the help of modern brain imaging technology.
On the basis of this work, researchers from New York and Baltimore have launched their own clinical trials aimed at deepening the therapeutic potential of these drugs. They have now studied psilocybin in cancer patients with severe death anxiety; Ecstasy among veterans with PTSD; and ayahuasca in people with depression.
Read more: Regulators come to approve a new drug against depression that could potentially change the game
Still, psychedelic researchers have faced obstacles along the way, Carhart-Harris said.
Part of the motivation for the new center came from frustration with repeated attempts to raise funds from traditional medical groups such as the National Institutes of Health and the British National Health Service.
"We are facing the perfect stigma storm," said Carhart-Harris. "Psychedelics scare some people, then mental illness, it can be a sensitive subject, and even psychotherapy and psychology are strongly stigmatized."
Earlier this year, the Carhart-Harris group launched a new trial in depressed people comparing psilocybin to a traditional antidepressant. Next year, their goal is to determine if the same drug could also be used to treat anorexia. Both diseases seem to be characterized by a kind of rigidity, he said. Whether it is self-doubt or food, cyclical and ubiquitous thoughts trap the brain in a whirlwind of negativity.
"Psychedelists seem to soften these prejudices of thought and behavior, so you get a kind of openness," Carhart-Harris said.
"It's a window of opportunity for a therapy where, if you can cultivate healthy changes, you're potentially on the right track."
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