The Potential of Non-Dissociative Ketamine with Hans Eriksson MD, PhD, MBA

In this episode of the Psychedelic Medicine Podcast, Dr. Hans Eriksson joins to discuss the potential of non-dissociative ketamine. Dr. Eriksson, Chief Medical Officer at HMNC Brain Health, is a highly respected drug developer and clinical psychiatrist with over 20 years of pharmaceutical experience. Prior to HMNC Brain Health, Dr. Eriksson served as Chief Medical Officer at COMPASS Pathways and previously as Senior Director of Clinical Research at Lundbeck and Medical Science Director at AstraZeneca.

In this conversation, Dr. Eriksson shares what inspired him to move from clinical practice to drug development, and why he sees so much potential in developing non-dissociative forms of ketamine. He discusses the ways the dissociative effects of ketamine decrease the accessibility of this treatment due to the fact that these changes in perception are undesirable for a significant portion of patients. Dr. Eriksson also shares results from preliminary studies of non-dissociative ketamine which showed efficacy in inducing anti-depressant effects. In closing, Dr. Eriksson discusses why he thinks the experiential element of the classical psychedelics play an important role in their efficacy as mental health treatments, but why this might not be the case when it comes to ketamine. 

 

In this episode you'll hear:

• The history of ketamine
• The pharmacology of ketamine's dissociative effect
• The relationship between ketamine dose and antidepressant effect 
• The possibility of bladder issues and addiction with ketamine and whether non-dissociative forms of ketamine would also have these potentials
• How Dr. Eriksson thinks about combining psychotherapy with ketamine treatments

 

Quotes:

"We are aiming for a similar exposure to the drug as you achieve with, for instance, an intravenous administration, but we are achieving a much lower peak concentration, maximum concentration of the compound. So that is one of the characteristics of our formulation." [10:58]

"Our view is that it's probably better to try to use the metabolism in the body as a tool to achieve very low exposure to ketamine but high exposure to the downstream metabolites." [23:19]

 

Links:

Dr. Eriksson on LinkedIn

HMNC Brain Health on LinkedIn

HMNC Brain Health website

Previous episode: Potential Benefits of Non-Hallucinogenic Psychedelics with Kurt Rasmussen, PhD

Psychedelic Medicine Association

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