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Jordan Sloshower, MD & Patrick D. Skosnik, PhD. February 2023

February 20, 2023
  • 00:00In person and on video.
  • 00:03Recording his progress.
  • 00:06And so we have a treat
  • 00:08today. We're going to hear from both
  • 00:11Jordan Slusher and Pat spouse Nick.
  • 00:13We're going to tell us about
  • 00:14different aspects of the study
  • 00:16that they did together with Cyril
  • 00:18D'souza and others on psilocybin,
  • 00:20the treatment of depression.
  • 00:21This may well have been the first
  • 00:24silybin study that was started
  • 00:25at Yale annuals, Emmanuelle.
  • 00:27Yes, on this one.
  • 00:29That was the the trailblazing. Hey.
  • 00:34So we're going to hear
  • 00:35some some clinical results from
  • 00:37EEG and some background and it's
  • 00:38great to have you guys here.
  • 00:40Thanks Chris for inviting us.
  • 00:42Great to be here and thank
  • 00:44you all for being here.
  • 00:45It's really fun to be finally
  • 00:49presenting this work. Doctor,
  • 00:51this is a smiling it's been a long road
  • 00:53to get here 7 about seven years or so.
  • 00:57And so just great to finally be at
  • 01:00a place of presenting the results,
  • 01:02having had at least one of our
  • 01:05papers accepted for publication.
  • 01:08So let's dive in here.
  • 01:12And I should, I should thank Jordan and
  • 01:14Cyril too, because they did the hard work.
  • 01:17I just put EEG electrodes on people.
  • 01:22Definitely A-Team science approach and
  • 01:24was a been a labor of love for sure.
  • 01:29So Steve in this study was called suicide
  • 01:34and induced neuroplasticity and the
  • 01:37treatment of major depressive disorder.
  • 01:39And happy representing Patrick today.
  • 01:43As far as disclosures for myself,
  • 01:45really nothing relevant to the talk.
  • 01:47The research we're presenting was funded by
  • 01:50the Hefter Research Institute and I serve
  • 01:53as a consultant with you Sona and ZYBAN,
  • 01:55which both are involved
  • 01:57in solar sybian research,
  • 01:58but not with this study.
  • 02:00And as far as where we're going to go today,
  • 02:02I'm going to just give a lightning
  • 02:04fast overview of suicide.
  • 02:05Ben Pression talked about the study
  • 02:08design and methods of this study and
  • 02:11I'll share the clinical results of the
  • 02:13study and then I'll pass it to Patrick to
  • 02:16talk about the EEG methods and results.
  • 02:18If there's time at the end,
  • 02:19I'll touch briefly on psychological
  • 02:22flexibility and we'll have a
  • 02:25little time for discussion.
  • 02:27So just real quick,
  • 02:28have you guys had talked specifically
  • 02:30on suicide then?
  • 02:32Yeah, but the attendance varies.
  • 02:33Yeah, fluctuates. I think it's worth the
  • 02:35really briefly, Sivan is is a member
  • 02:38of the classical psychedelic family.
  • 02:40It's a serotonin 2A agonist.
  • 02:44Particular. Chemical occurs naturally
  • 02:48in silicide mushroom species which
  • 02:49are widespread around the globe,
  • 02:51and psilocybin mushrooms have
  • 02:53been used for millennia.
  • 02:56Actually, at the bottom right you can
  • 02:58see mushroom statues from Meso America,
  • 03:01Middle America, Guatemala specifically
  • 03:03that date back about 2500 years.
  • 03:06As far As for Western science,
  • 03:08it is first isolated from the
  • 03:11mushrooms by Albert Hoffman in
  • 03:131957 and there was research with.
  • 03:16The side then back in the early
  • 03:19phase of psychedelic research
  • 03:21in the West in the 50s and 60s.
  • 03:24Not going to talk about that.
  • 03:26More recently it has been the preferred
  • 03:29psychedelic for most of the clinical studies,
  • 03:32of which there is increasing many
  • 03:35increasing numbers across different
  • 03:37mental disorders as well as neurological
  • 03:40disorders and increasing risk,
  • 03:42potentially psychosomatic illness for sure.
  • 03:45Depression, addictions,
  • 03:48OCD increasingly and.
  • 03:52Was headache disorders,
  • 03:53you're Yale are getting more
  • 03:55attention with the Sobin, please,
  • 03:58as far As for the mental health conditions?
  • 04:02The studies with suicide, then?
  • 04:04Have used some sort of inside
  • 04:06that assisted therapy model,
  • 04:07which is which.
  • 04:08There are many flavors,
  • 04:10but the common elements generally include
  • 04:13some attention to set and setting,
  • 04:16meaning that mindset of the
  • 04:17individual going in setting in which
  • 04:20the medication is administered.
  • 04:22And then the drug.
  • 04:23So seeing that those are all important
  • 04:25elements in determining the outcome and
  • 04:28they followed essentially this three,
  • 04:31three stage kind of model of using
  • 04:34preparation support and integration,
  • 04:36meaning preparation sessions leading
  • 04:38up to the medication session,
  • 04:40a supportive approach during medication
  • 04:43administration and then follow up
  • 04:45appointments sometimes called we call
  • 04:48debriefing or integration sessions
  • 04:50and of course there's been a lot of.
  • 04:52Variety in what those sessions
  • 04:54would look like,
  • 04:56but have generally followed
  • 04:58that three-part structure.
  • 05:00As far as philosophy studies for depression,
  • 05:03only going to mention do this very briefly,
  • 05:06but this was really the state of
  • 05:08the research when we were designing
  • 05:10this study like 6-6 seven years ago.
  • 05:12There was two trials that were
  • 05:15published in 2016 looking at suicide
  • 05:17and therapy in cancer patients
  • 05:19who had depression and anxiety.
  • 05:21And those were medium sized studies,
  • 05:24about 100 participants and there was a
  • 05:27lot of publicity generated from those.
  • 05:30That is because the main finding sort
  • 05:33of indicated these rapid acting and
  • 05:35long lasting results from a single dose
  • 05:38of psilocybin that were persisting
  • 05:40up to about six months out and then
  • 05:42later in follow up even longer.
  • 05:44And so kind of generated
  • 05:46this narrative around wow,
  • 05:47you know,
  • 05:49lasting effects from single
  • 05:51doses of solar cylin.
  • 05:53We talked about how the
  • 05:54media picked up on that,
  • 05:55but that was sort of the state of of that.
  • 05:59And then right as we were
  • 06:00really submitting this study,
  • 06:02Robin card Harris published in 2016,
  • 06:04this first Open label study of
  • 06:07suicide then therapy in TRD or
  • 06:10treatment refractory depression,
  • 06:11very small open label study.
  • 06:14And those were the individual
  • 06:15patient results in the graph
  • 06:17below. But just briefly you
  • 06:19know showed robust effect that
  • 06:22one week and that persisted to
  • 06:24some degree for about 3 months.
  • 06:26So again kind of.
  • 06:28Providing some preliminary excitement
  • 06:30around the potential of this therapy.
  • 06:33Since then there's been a number of
  • 06:35better studies that have gone on
  • 06:38at Hopkins in back in London and
  • 06:41increasingly now we have phase two
  • 06:44level studies from Zona that will
  • 06:47be published soon and one that was
  • 06:50published from Compass Pathways in
  • 06:51New England Journal just recently.
  • 06:52I don't have time to dive into those
  • 06:54because I want to spend time on our study,
  • 06:57but you know.
  • 06:58One of the.
  • 06:59The brief summary that led into
  • 07:00the design of this study was
  • 07:02that there was intriguing data
  • 07:04supporting suicidal therapy as a
  • 07:06promising approach for depression,
  • 07:08rapid acting, and sustained effects
  • 07:10from limited numbers of doses of doses.
  • 07:13There were very significant
  • 07:14limitations to those studies,
  • 07:15including small sample sizes,
  • 07:17lack of placebo controls,
  • 07:19or for blinding, functional,
  • 07:21unblinding,
  • 07:22suspected and significant expectancy
  • 07:24effects increasingly as the
  • 07:26media also continued to hide.
  • 07:29Couples therapy and the big one,
  • 07:32you know,
  • 07:33the big question is also if we're seeing
  • 07:35these long lasting effects from single doses,
  • 07:37how is this working?
  • 07:38What are the mechanisms of action those are?
  • 07:41Were and still are to a large degree,
  • 07:43still unclear.
  • 07:45So that led into US cooking
  • 07:47up this this study.
  • 07:48So Sabin induced neuroplasticity.
  • 07:51And just to introduce the study aims,
  • 07:55it was primarily a mechanistic study.
  • 07:57This is a exploratory and
  • 07:59relatively small study.
  • 08:01The things we were interested
  • 08:03in looking at were neuropathy,
  • 08:05effects of could neuroplasticity be
  • 08:07an explanatory mechanism and Patrick
  • 08:10will share about the EEG paradigm
  • 08:12that we used to look at that possibility.
  • 08:15And I was interested in this idea
  • 08:17about psychological flexibility,
  • 08:19which is baked into acceptance
  • 08:20and commitment.
  • 08:21RP as another more psychological
  • 08:23mechanism of action and we
  • 08:25collected some data on that.
  • 08:27And of course as secondary measures
  • 08:30we did collect efficacy measures
  • 08:32for depression and being quite so
  • 08:35a clinician administered and self
  • 08:37rated measure looked at anxiety
  • 08:38and quality of life as well as well
  • 08:42as some basic safety outcomes.
  • 08:45As far as our methods,
  • 08:46this was we recruited adults with
  • 08:48moderate to severe depression
  • 08:50and they had to have had one or
  • 08:52more treatment failures,
  • 08:53so not technically TRD,
  • 08:54although most of them had
  • 08:57probably met criteria for TRD,
  • 08:59they had to be offered antidepressants
  • 09:01at the time of inclusion and
  • 09:04study and major exclusion.
  • 09:07Pretty typical for most of
  • 09:08the studies in the field.
  • 09:09Personal family history of psychotic
  • 09:11or bipolar disorders or uncontrolled
  • 09:13medical issues and we excluded.
  • 09:15Anyone who had a past year use
  • 09:18of psychedelics.
  • 09:19And we aim to enroll 18 subjects or targets.
  • 09:24And as far as the design,
  • 09:25which I'll show you on the next slide,
  • 09:27this was a placebo control within
  • 09:29subject fixed order design with enhanced
  • 09:32blinding procedures and it's a mouthful,
  • 09:35I'll show you what that looked like.
  • 09:37So our participants
  • 09:39enrolled in the study here.
  • 09:42At screening, they underwent an
  • 09:44initial psychotherapy session and
  • 09:46then all the participants received
  • 09:49an initial placebo session.
  • 09:51And then four weeks later,
  • 09:53was there still a cybin session.
  • 09:55However, they were not aware of the fact
  • 09:57that it would be in that fixed order.
  • 09:59They were told that there were
  • 10:01three possible study conditions.
  • 10:03A placebo in lower dose of Zoloft,
  • 10:06cybin at .1 milligrams per kilogram and a
  • 10:09higher dose of .3 milligrams per kilogram.
  • 10:12And so the the middle,
  • 10:13the low dose was actually never administered
  • 10:16although participants received the placebo.
  • 10:17And then the higher .3 milligram dose
  • 10:21of soliciting 4 weeks later and the
  • 10:23blue heads there indicate where we did
  • 10:26EG which is was one day and two weeks
  • 10:29after each of the dosing sessions and
  • 10:31then the yellow and yellow you can see.
  • 10:34We collected our depression
  • 10:35measures all the way out to 16
  • 10:38weeks after that initial session,
  • 10:40or three-week three months after Silybin.
  • 10:43And there was psychotherapy
  • 10:46throughout the intervention as well.
  • 10:49All right.
  • 10:52Keep on moving unless there's any
  • 10:54burning questions about the design.
  • 10:59So I'm going to jump in and share some
  • 11:02of the clinical study results first here
  • 11:06and just really briefly show you our
  • 11:08consort diagram and just make the point
  • 11:10that we assess a lot of individuals
  • 11:13for this study recruitment is a big
  • 11:16deal and these studies assessed in
  • 11:19a 949 patients to enroll 22 and had
  • 11:24fifteen complete two both test days,
  • 11:2619 completed the first Test day and so.
  • 11:30For the purposes of our EEG and
  • 11:32primary depression outcomes,
  • 11:33we analyze all everyone who completed
  • 11:35at least one of the tests says.
  • 11:40Alright, I'm just going to share
  • 11:41initially actually the blinding success.
  • 11:43And I'm going to present this in
  • 11:45part because I think it's really
  • 11:47important when thinking about actually
  • 11:48the rest of the efficacy results
  • 11:50and also because this is just a
  • 11:52glaring blind spot in the literature,
  • 11:55not only the psychedelics,
  • 11:57but really been looking even more
  • 11:59recently just across amical trials
  • 12:02that say they're blinded but actually
  • 12:04do not present any data related to how
  • 12:08successive the blinding and this is.
  • 12:10Even more of a heightened issue
  • 12:11and psychedelic arena.
  • 12:13So actually proud to show the data
  • 12:17that we collected at least on that.
  • 12:20So as far as you know,
  • 12:21and we we asked the only the participants.
  • 12:23We didn't ask the therapist,
  • 12:24which would have been even
  • 12:26another layer we could have done.
  • 12:28But during the placebo session,
  • 12:30about 80% of our participants
  • 12:32correctly identified the placebo and
  • 12:35the other four guests the low dose,
  • 12:37there was some confusion there,
  • 12:39but no one mistook the placebo for the
  • 12:42higher dose and that was also true in
  • 12:45the subsequent high dose silybin session.
  • 12:4880% correctly guessed they had
  • 12:51received that intervention.
  • 12:52A few guests that they had
  • 12:54received the lower dose silybin,
  • 12:56but no one confused again but.
  • 12:58Suicide, then for the placebo.
  • 13:01So while it was not 100% failure,
  • 13:04it also was not an overwhelming success
  • 13:07as far as maintaining the blind.
  • 13:10And so share a few thoughts of
  • 13:13how that relates when you're yeah,
  • 13:15I've just forgot about my question was
  • 13:18were these subjects psychedelic, naive?
  • 13:21No, actually about I have this
  • 13:24at least over half were OK,
  • 13:26but the criteria was passed.
  • 13:28The year was an exclusion past year.
  • 13:31Is there any suicide?
  • 13:34Conclusion. Correct.
  • 13:37And about half were naive and about
  • 13:40the other half had a limited exposure,
  • 13:43so it wasn't, we didn't need any
  • 13:45one who I'd say was a psychonaut.
  • 13:48But I think no one had
  • 13:50more than seven lifetime,
  • 13:53because whether or not they have,
  • 13:54whether or not people have previous
  • 13:56experience can influence their
  • 13:57expectation and can influence blinding.
  • 13:59And it's not going to make
  • 14:00people think that saline is.
  • 14:02You know a robust
  • 14:03trip. And then my other question
  • 14:05was do you can you speak for the
  • 14:07Group A little bit about the
  • 14:08dose .3 milligrams per kilogram,
  • 14:10why weight dose instead of fixed
  • 14:13and what is that dose mean?
  • 14:15How do you like what is
  • 14:16that a high dose of medium?
  • 14:18Thanks. So .3 is I guess can often
  • 14:22considered a medium to high dose?
  • 14:25Um, so definitely a dose that is will
  • 14:28produce generally pronounced subjective
  • 14:31psychedelic effects .1 being a lower
  • 14:35threshold dose like where maybe
  • 14:37not quite a microdose where there,
  • 14:39but definitely not like robust psychedelic
  • 14:41effects .3 and weight based dosing.
  • 14:44At the time we designed this was kind
  • 14:46of the standard and there's been a
  • 14:49shift more recently to use fixed dose
  • 14:51wait. Those dosing is a
  • 14:52pain in the **** it is,
  • 14:54it requires compounding.
  • 14:55So I think probably as these drugs
  • 14:57are getting closer to phase two,
  • 14:58phase three and they're seeing
  • 15:00that writing, you know,
  • 15:01the actual scale of the suit.
  • 15:04Towards fixed dosing.
  • 15:05And I think there's some data also
  • 15:07that perhaps body size is not a
  • 15:10huge predictor of the robustness
  • 15:12of the psychedelic effects as
  • 15:15much as other idiosyncratic,
  • 15:17you know, brain chemistry factors.
  • 15:21But that was .3 was the dose also
  • 15:23generally the dose used in those cancer
  • 15:25trials that showed those early effects.
  • 15:27So we just kind of adopted that.
  • 15:31I'm just curious,
  • 15:32during screening it was like 900 out of the
  • 15:36949 were ineligible for in person screening.
  • 15:40Was that was there like a common reason?
  • 15:43There was so many reasons that we did
  • 15:46have it all in the paper,
  • 15:48but so many you know speaks to the
  • 15:50difficulty of recruitment and and
  • 15:52also how restrictive the product.
  • 15:54Most of these protocols actually
  • 15:57are as far as you know having to
  • 15:59have had one fit like at least one
  • 16:01failed medication trial and then
  • 16:02being able to come off of that.
  • 16:04And we require people to be in active
  • 16:07treatment at the time of enrollment
  • 16:08and they have to be in the area and be
  • 16:11able to come for all these sessions.
  • 16:12So it's. So many logistical and
  • 16:15just factors why people couldn't.
  • 16:17Participate.
  • 16:19I'm going to be able to come off of,
  • 16:20especially having to be able
  • 16:21to come off of antidepressants,
  • 16:23but having to have had a recent trial
  • 16:25in the current depressive episode?
  • 16:27Very tricky.
  • 16:29So it's a lot of factors.
  • 16:34So let me having shared those binding
  • 16:36results, I'll show you the results
  • 16:38from the handy which is our is our
  • 16:41primary depression outcome widely
  • 16:43used clinician administered scale.
  • 16:45So just let me just walk you through it here.
  • 16:47So from the left, people came in
  • 16:49with about a handy of about 23.
  • 16:52Are you upper moderate depression and
  • 16:54after the placebo they had a notable and
  • 16:58significant statistically significant
  • 16:59drop in their depression which actually
  • 17:01persisted all the way out for four weeks.
  • 17:06Drop was around five points on the handy
  • 17:09and then have their silibin session
  • 17:12and improved again with a significant
  • 17:15drop a little bit larger in magnitude,
  • 17:186 to 8 points.
  • 17:20Roughly the difference however between.
  • 17:23The magnitude of change here pre
  • 17:26postal cybin and pre post placebo this
  • 17:28it was not a significant difference
  • 17:30from this change to this change.
  • 17:33However,
  • 17:33the effect size in this case would be
  • 17:36crime looking at was larger postal cybin.
  • 17:40Anything,
  • 17:40just a couple of things that
  • 17:42are interesting thinking about
  • 17:43also the blinding results is,
  • 17:45is that people came in,
  • 17:46they had the placebo session most
  • 17:49actually realized they got placebo and
  • 17:52instead of you know maybe getting worse
  • 17:54or having an osebo response actually
  • 17:56continue to improve and so you might
  • 17:59think what what was going on there.
  • 18:01At least two ideas are we're one
  • 18:04they were receiving therapy and
  • 18:05so having some therapy effects but
  • 18:08another big one I think related to.
  • 18:10Expectancy was that they knew that
  • 18:12they had this other session coming
  • 18:14up and we're engaging in therapy.
  • 18:16So there was and I think we encouraged
  • 18:19the generally hopeful attitude and
  • 18:21thinking of this as one big journey.
  • 18:23So I think that's that is interesting
  • 18:25because we'll see probably in a few
  • 18:27weeks the results of the USONA study.
  • 18:29That was a single dose study
  • 18:31where if you didn't get it,
  • 18:33you had no hope of another session.
  • 18:35So you know be quite different
  • 18:38effects from the placebo session.
  • 18:40I would imagine and then just the
  • 18:43other caveat here is that there
  • 18:45was a carryover effect that we we
  • 18:48had anticipated that four weeks
  • 18:49would be enough to wash out,
  • 18:51but we did have carryover effects
  • 18:53into the second part of the study.
  • 18:55They're getting weekly therapy throughout,
  • 18:57not exactly weekly, but it was two.
  • 19:00They would get therapy the day
  • 19:02after and a week after the each
  • 19:04of the sessions and then there
  • 19:06was a few follow-up sessions after
  • 19:08week six after that final. That
  • 19:11may have helped may have
  • 19:12contributed to carry over.
  • 19:13But as you point out the anticipation
  • 19:16of males that combination of and
  • 19:19there's no therapy between the day
  • 19:20before the W zero day before dosing
  • 19:22and W 0 day after dose correct.
  • 19:24The only thing that happens
  • 19:26there is that correct
  • 19:28session with two with the therapists
  • 19:30anesthesiologists in the room
  • 19:32that the therapy that happened to concurrent
  • 19:34with the dosing session. Yes exactly.
  • 19:38So, you know, I think someone's
  • 19:41trying to say something.
  • 19:44Was there someone? And it's just.
  • 19:50Just said a lot of that contact,
  • 19:52probably more than standard of character.
  • 19:53Yeah. So, you know, I think it's,
  • 19:56it's one thing I've.
  • 19:58So of course suicide then at least
  • 20:00for this primary outcome not not a
  • 20:03statistically significant difference
  • 20:04though if you look from a clinical
  • 20:06standpoint from the beginning to end
  • 20:08pretty significant drops with the
  • 20:10combined the effect sizes as well as
  • 20:13the overall intervention pretty large.
  • 20:15And again this was not designed as an
  • 20:18efficacy study with such a small and but
  • 20:21just another piece on the clinical results.
  • 20:24You know we also look at rates
  • 20:26of response and remission for
  • 20:28those who completed both sessions.
  • 20:30And just also show here that after placebo
  • 20:32you know a little bit of response,
  • 20:34but 20% response rate which really
  • 20:37jumps up after this whole sibin sessions
  • 20:41with responses lasting up to that.
  • 20:44This was our primary MDM point
  • 20:46endpoint at Week 6.
  • 20:49Was the response to that response rate is a
  • 20:5150% improvement relative to what baseline?
  • 20:56Actually, for this is actually
  • 20:58relative to the day before. Each dose.
  • 21:01OK. So the psilocybin response
  • 21:03there is relative to a day before
  • 21:05psilocybin, not three weeks a week.
  • 21:09Yeah. Jordan, I know the
  • 21:11numbers are really small,
  • 21:12but the people that did not
  • 21:17accurately guess their. Assignment.
  • 21:19Was there any difference there?
  • 21:21Were they? Were they the big
  • 21:25responders and non responders?
  • 21:27So we have numbers are so small,
  • 21:29we just have to be a
  • 21:30qualitative look at it. But
  • 21:31yeah, the the the one that was the
  • 21:33biggest outlier was actually it
  • 21:35was our very first participant.
  • 21:37He had a very robust he detected
  • 21:41effects from the placebo session and
  • 21:44had very significant antidepressant
  • 21:46response from the placebo session
  • 21:49as far as the other ones.
  • 21:52Sort of less memorable.
  • 21:53I think they were just unsure,
  • 21:55you know, which.
  • 21:57Because that was the participant
  • 21:59that sticks out the most in my mind.
  • 22:07All right.
  • 22:11So as far as just you know the other thing
  • 22:14that I mentioned at the beginning was this,
  • 22:16this whole narrative around the duration
  • 22:18of response from a single dose.
  • 22:20And so that was something we were
  • 22:21interested in looking at and we look,
  • 22:23we look at that best looking at the quiz,
  • 22:25the self rated measure of depression
  • 22:27that we collected because unlike the
  • 22:29hand D which was just out to week six,
  • 22:31we did collect this all the way out
  • 22:33to week sixteen or three months after
  • 22:35the suicide then dosing session.
  • 22:37And So what I'm just highlighting
  • 22:39in this box here is that relative to
  • 22:42the pre sobin baseline from one one
  • 22:46day after the dose there was that
  • 22:49a significant drop similar to what
  • 22:51the Hamdy and that response remains
  • 22:55statistically significant for two
  • 22:57months and then at three months that
  • 23:01difference was no longer significant.
  • 23:03However, they were at this point they
  • 23:05were still significantly better than their.
  • 23:07Initial baseline prior to placebo,
  • 23:09but you know again small numbers,
  • 23:11but I to me this was both.
  • 23:14And encouraging,
  • 23:16but also maybe perhaps more realistic result
  • 23:19of seeing a two-month about a two-month.
  • 23:22Response and duration from the single
  • 23:24dose of suicide then at least the
  • 23:27combination of everything that came
  • 23:29before it and then the solar sybian does.
  • 23:31So perhaps that you know I I mentioned
  • 23:34that because I'm a bit skeptical
  • 23:36of the single dose is going to
  • 23:38cure people who've had 20 years of
  • 23:41depression narrative and perhaps
  • 23:43this is what we might see a little
  • 23:46more realistic moving forward.
  • 23:48All right.
  • 23:49Before I wrap up this section,
  • 23:50I'll just show you also some interesting
  • 23:53results from our quality of life measure,
  • 23:55which was the Rand 36 it had
  • 23:59contains 8 health related domains.
  • 24:01And I think this is important in depression
  • 24:03studies not just to look at symptoms,
  • 24:04but also the collect some idea of how
  • 24:07people are actually doing in their life.
  • 24:09And we collected qualitative data as
  • 24:11well that I'm not going to show here,
  • 24:13I haven't analyzed yet,
  • 24:14but as far as from these eight domains,
  • 24:17so actually.
  • 24:17Out of seven, out of the eight,
  • 24:19we saw significant time effect,
  • 24:21meaning people significantly improved
  • 24:22from their initial baseline over
  • 24:25the course of the whole study.
  • 24:26And in these three, sorry,
  • 24:284 domains on the left now in green,
  • 24:31that we actually did see a
  • 24:34statistically significant improvement
  • 24:35post silybin compared to post SIBO.
  • 24:38So unlike the depression measures,
  • 24:40this was statistically significant.
  • 24:42Still cybin and these are pretty
  • 24:46relevant domains that role limitations.
  • 24:48Due to emotional problems and emotional
  • 24:50well-being, social functioning.
  • 24:52And general Health,
  • 24:53we didn't see it for energy and fatigue.
  • 24:55And just to show you what those results
  • 24:57for us look like with something like this,
  • 25:00this is for role limitations
  • 25:01due to emotional problems,
  • 25:02increase in scores, improvements.
  • 25:04And so we we did see pretty
  • 25:08significant jumps after the
  • 25:10suicide and actually and this is
  • 25:122 weeks. After the Silybin session
  • 25:14and then we collected it at the end
  • 25:16of study and that improvement was
  • 25:19still significant three months later.
  • 25:21And that was true for these other
  • 25:23domains and the emotional well-being
  • 25:26and social functioning as well.
  • 25:28So that is. And perhaps promising results.
  • 25:31So just to sum up that before I
  • 25:34pass it over to Patrick from this,
  • 25:36we did see significant improvements in
  • 25:39depression following both the placebo
  • 25:41and the sobin without a statistically
  • 25:43significant difference between the two.
  • 25:45However, we did see larger effect
  • 25:46sizes and higher rates of response
  • 25:48and remission postal,
  • 25:49cybin and after the SILIBIN dosing session,
  • 25:53the decreases in depression remains
  • 25:55significant for two months and we saw
  • 25:58significant and lasting improvements.
  • 26:00In several mood related quality
  • 26:03of life domains.
  • 26:04Again, the limitations that I touched
  • 26:06on for this section against small
  • 26:09sample size for for an efficacy study.
  • 26:11Any study we did have carryover
  • 26:14effects that may have limited
  • 26:16detecting that that difference.
  • 26:18We had limited success with blinding
  • 26:20and clear expectancy effects
  • 26:22at play and therapy effects,
  • 26:25and you know we can't separate in
  • 26:27this model the therapy effects
  • 26:29from the actual drug effects.
  • 26:31Discuss more in the discussion.
  • 26:34So with that,
  • 26:35I'm going to stop my share
  • 26:37and pass it over to Patrick.
  • 26:43All right. Thank you, Jordan.
  • 26:55Can everyone see my
  • 26:57opening slide? Looks good.
  • 27:00Alright. Great pointer.
  • 27:05So now we want to talk
  • 27:06a little bit what are the potential
  • 27:09neural mechanisms of the antidepressant
  • 27:11effect that Jordan just outlined.
  • 27:15And so we're really in the
  • 27:16middle of a paradigm shift.
  • 27:22In the sense that there's this idea that
  • 27:26psychedelics are psychoplasm begins,
  • 27:28so they induced a neuroplastic state,
  • 27:31which might open a therapeutic
  • 27:35window for therapy.
  • 27:37And it's a paradigm shift because it
  • 27:41goes beyond the standard, you know,
  • 27:44trying to manipulate neurochemistry
  • 27:47with via mono Amiens, Prozac and Zoloft.
  • 27:51And whatnot and instead.
  • 27:54Try to selectively modulate and change
  • 27:57neural circuits that are implicated
  • 27:59in depression and anxiety and OCD and
  • 28:02other things as well in addiction.
  • 28:08So I'll start with what's neuroplasticity.
  • 28:10So neuroplasticity refers to the
  • 28:13activity dependent modification
  • 28:14of cement synaptic transmission,
  • 28:17which is thought to be one of the neural
  • 28:19substrates of learning and memory.
  • 28:21In some sense,
  • 28:22I think neuroplasticity plasticity is
  • 28:24redundant because the brain is so dynamic.
  • 28:27Our environments are constantly
  • 28:29changing and relationships are changing.
  • 28:31And so the brain is so dynamic,
  • 28:33so it's always plastic,
  • 28:35but we use the term neuroplasticity.
  • 28:38And this idea goes back
  • 28:41to Donald Hebb from 1949.
  • 28:43And this quote of his is is so
  • 28:48iconic and really I think prophetic.
  • 28:51So Donald Hebb said in 1949 when an Axon
  • 28:56of cell A is near enough to excite a cell B.
  • 29:01And repeatedly or persistently
  • 29:02takes part in firing,
  • 29:04firing it.
  • 29:05Some growth process for metabolic
  • 29:08change takes place in one of both
  • 29:11cells such that a efficiency as one
  • 29:14of the cells firing B is increased.
  • 29:17So a simply simple way to say that is
  • 29:19sales or networks that fire together,
  • 29:22wire together,
  • 29:23that's these the essence of neuroplasticity.
  • 29:27This is really important in the
  • 29:29context of depression because
  • 29:31enhancing neuroplasticity,
  • 29:32for example through psychedelics,
  • 29:34could up again open up this therapeutic
  • 29:37window in which traditional
  • 29:39therapies such as CBT and others
  • 29:42could prove more efficacious,
  • 29:44and indeed deficits and
  • 29:47markers of neuroplasticity,
  • 29:48for instance a peripheral BDNF,
  • 29:50have been observed and depression.
  • 29:55So this review paper just came out showing.
  • 30:00Some of the work that's been done
  • 30:03in the context of psychedelics on
  • 30:06different measures of neuroplasticity.
  • 30:09And there's several measures that.
  • 30:12Have been used, including.
  • 30:16Immediate early genes,
  • 30:19upregulation of other plastic
  • 30:22plasticity genes, spinal genesis,
  • 30:25neurogenesis, density of synapses.
  • 30:28One thing that to note here,
  • 30:30which may come up in discussion later,
  • 30:32is that each of these different
  • 30:36measures of neuroplasticity looked
  • 30:38to have a different time course.
  • 30:40So of course the immediate early
  • 30:42genes are early, you know,
  • 30:44within an hour of administration of.
  • 30:46Of the second relic,
  • 30:47whereas some of the morphological
  • 30:49changes tend to happen later.
  • 30:55You asked in the chat if you
  • 30:57get neuroplastic changes after
  • 30:59conventional, like monoaminergic.
  • 31:02Antidepressants, the answer is yes.
  • 31:06And with ketamine and with ECT.
  • 31:10Correct. In with TMS I believe as well.
  • 31:14Umm, but you know the the change of
  • 31:17psychedelics are pretty rapid and
  • 31:18they they can be pretty long lasting.
  • 31:21And for like the typical, you know,
  • 31:24SSRI's, it may take months for
  • 31:27these types of changes to occur.
  • 31:30In a really elegant study for from
  • 31:33some of our colleagues right here
  • 31:35at Yale shall it all showed that a
  • 31:39single dose of silybin increased spine
  • 31:41density in the media prefrontal cortex.
  • 31:44It immediately related stress related
  • 31:46behavioral deficits using learned
  • 31:48helplessness paradigm which is a standard
  • 31:51animal model of depression and also
  • 31:54also promoted excitatory neurotransmission.
  • 31:57So it was really elegant in
  • 31:59the sense that it showed.
  • 32:00Silas Sylvan could induce
  • 32:02morphological changes,
  • 32:04structural changes,
  • 32:05behavioral changes related to depression,
  • 32:08and.
  • 32:11Excitatory neurotransmission
  • 32:14via electrophysiology.
  • 32:17So going back to this plot I showed earlier,
  • 32:21one thing to note is this, this,
  • 32:23this middle row here is it's in yellow.
  • 32:27These are the human studies.
  • 32:28And what you can see is most of
  • 32:31the human studies have really just
  • 32:33looked at peripheral BDNF levels,
  • 32:35which are thought to be
  • 32:37related to neuroplasticity.
  • 32:38And there have been several
  • 32:40negative findings as well.
  • 32:41But there's a question of,
  • 32:42you know, do BDNF levels
  • 32:44peripherally reflect being the be.
  • 32:46Enough levels in the brain.
  • 32:50Which is not highlighted here.
  • 32:51There have been some F MRI studies
  • 32:53look at functional connectivity
  • 32:54in the context of psychedelics
  • 32:57showing increased connectivity,
  • 32:58but what this really does show
  • 33:00is there's a possibility of data
  • 33:02using sort of brain measures,
  • 33:05especially electrophysiological,
  • 33:06in the context of psychedelics
  • 33:08and depression.
  • 33:13So how can we non invasively
  • 33:17assess neuroplasticity?
  • 33:18In humans, and one way we could do
  • 33:21it is with long term potentiation.
  • 33:24So one form of synaptic plasticity
  • 33:26is the ability of synapses,
  • 33:28as I mentioned earlier,
  • 33:29to strengthen overtime in response to
  • 33:32increases or decreases in their activity.
  • 33:36The type of synaptic plasticity
  • 33:37that's typically measured is
  • 33:39called long term potentiation,
  • 33:41which is a persistent increase in
  • 33:43synaptic strength followed flood following
  • 33:46high frequency pre synaptic tetanic
  • 33:49stimulation typically at about 100 Hertz.
  • 33:52And it is really this is to be a neural
  • 33:53substrate of learning and memory.
  • 33:55So high frequency Titanic stimulation
  • 33:57of the presynaptic cell will increase
  • 34:00excitability in the postsynaptic cell.
  • 34:03This has been one of the quintessential
  • 34:05models of neuroplasticity going back.
  • 34:06Decades,
  • 34:08and while it's traditionally been
  • 34:10studied in slice preparations,
  • 34:11and it has been done in humans using
  • 34:15exercise tissue some surgical patients,
  • 34:18it's now possible to index LTP
  • 34:21and humans non invasively using
  • 34:24sensory stimulation and EG.
  • 34:30So this, so this is what the,
  • 34:33the, the typical paradigm that I'm
  • 34:36Speaking of entails. And in fact
  • 34:38this is the very paradigm we used.
  • 34:40So it's good to pay attention to this.
  • 34:42So, so we chose this paradigm adapted from
  • 34:45clap at all 2005 and it's an auditory.
  • 34:50Sensory LTP paradigm.
  • 34:54Losing my point here.
  • 34:55So the way it typically works is
  • 34:58you have a pre tetanus period where
  • 35:01you present roughly 120 tone pips.
  • 35:04They're just 1000 Hertz tones,
  • 35:0650 milliseconds each and what they
  • 35:09do is they induce an auditory
  • 35:12ERP or the way we have analyzed
  • 35:15it an event related oscillation.
  • 35:18So this is standard ERP stuff.
  • 35:21You present a tone,
  • 35:23you get an ERP or you get an
  • 35:25event related oscillation.
  • 35:27And then we do 2 minutes of
  • 35:30a tetanus at 13 Hertz,
  • 35:33which has been shown to be
  • 35:35optimal for the authority cortex.
  • 35:36And then we redo the the test
  • 35:39phase with the same types of
  • 35:41tone tips as in the pre tetanus.
  • 35:43And what you can see here is an
  • 35:46increase in event related oscillations
  • 35:49particularly in the Theta range.
  • 35:51And these are actually our data.
  • 35:52These are about 9 control
  • 35:55subjects that we used to.
  • 35:57Deposit the paradigm.
  • 35:58So this is what you should see
  • 36:00in a normal individual.
  • 36:02So is there any questions on,
  • 36:03on the paradigm
  • 36:05ERP is event related potential.
  • 36:07So that's like the reliable EG squiggle
  • 36:09that comes after a sense risk stimulus,
  • 36:11right. And that's what's typically done with
  • 36:13with this paradigm and we did that as well.
  • 36:15I'm not going to show that,
  • 36:17but I chose event related oscillations
  • 36:19because you really get the same
  • 36:21information but you get added
  • 36:23information about the frequency
  • 36:24characteristics of the response.
  • 36:26Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah.
  • 36:28When you look at an ERP,
  • 36:29you, you really have no idea
  • 36:31what frequency that ERP is.
  • 36:34Once, but at the time it didn't.
  • 36:38I'm sorry, I didn't catch that.
  • 36:44Someone asking you a question if
  • 36:45someone who had need wasn't muted.
  • 36:51How long does it last this posted?
  • 36:53And it's like this increase in
  • 36:55the data band after the auditory.
  • 36:59How long does the entire task take? How how
  • 37:03long do you observe this this effect
  • 37:05and and when does it come back?
  • 37:07Does it come back to know to the
  • 37:09President state after a while?
  • 37:10And if yes, after how long?
  • 37:13That's a really good question.
  • 37:15So we did not test that.
  • 37:16But in the original plat study,
  • 37:19they observed it up to six
  • 37:22hours after after the tetanus.
  • 37:25So they observed this increase in,
  • 37:27in their case they did ERP's,
  • 37:29but they observed it six hours after.
  • 37:31They didn't go beyond that.
  • 37:33Um, probably just for logistical
  • 37:35reasons and subject burden.
  • 37:37So it could last longer than that.
  • 37:39But they did observe it six
  • 37:40hours after the tetanus.
  • 37:43And maybe you can get in Vivo LP in the
  • 37:45hippocampus that lasts a month or more.
  • 37:46So in principle it can last a very
  • 37:48long time whether that would happen
  • 37:50in this paradigm, but in principle.
  • 37:56So this is just a
  • 37:58reiteration of Jordan slide.
  • 38:00So just to remind everyone that
  • 38:02we did EG 24 hours after placebo,
  • 38:06the first placebo session.
  • 38:07We did it two weeks after
  • 38:10the placebo session,
  • 38:11then we did a 24 hours after the
  • 38:13style of seven session and then two
  • 38:15weeks after the Salah seven session.
  • 38:19General EEG methods pretty standard.
  • 38:21We use the Compton medics and M6 to
  • 38:24four channel nurse scan EEG system.
  • 38:26Umm. This good to note that all
  • 38:28stimuli presented at 80 decibels
  • 38:30SPL which is standard and it's kind
  • 38:33of the same decimal level as as
  • 38:36you know conversation sample rate
  • 38:38of 1000 Hertz, bandpass filter,
  • 38:40notch filter to get rid of line noise,
  • 38:43standard preprocessing,
  • 38:44getting rid of bad trials and ocular
  • 38:46correction and all data was analyzed using.
  • 38:48Brain products and less for 2.0.
  • 38:53OK. So this is the event related
  • 38:57oscillations across all the conditions.
  • 38:59So the first thing to pay
  • 39:01attention to is the top left.
  • 39:03So this is the day after placebo and
  • 39:06what you can see is we observe no
  • 39:10LTP pre tetanus versus post tetanus.
  • 39:13So they related oscillations
  • 39:15in the Theta band identical.
  • 39:19Suggesting that perhaps in this depressed
  • 39:22population they have impaired LTP.
  • 39:24But that's speculative at this
  • 39:27point because we did see it in our,
  • 39:28at least our pilot control study.
  • 39:32Likewise, 2 weeks after placebo, same thing.
  • 39:35No, no LTP from pre tetanus to post tetanus.
  • 39:41Moving on to Silo Sybian,
  • 39:43so 24 hours after Silas Sibin.
  • 39:45Again no change from pre
  • 39:48tetanus to post tetanus.
  • 39:50And the other thing to note is the amplitude
  • 39:53or the power of the Theta responses
  • 39:56were the same in all these conditions.
  • 39:59The thing that was we weren't expecting,
  • 40:01which is really the interesting thing
  • 40:03of this study is we found we we
  • 40:07didn't see pre tetanus versus post
  • 40:09tetanus 2 weeks after silaban either,
  • 40:12but we saw an almost doubling
  • 40:15of data power just in general.
  • 40:18And these are just the bar graphs
  • 40:20showing what I just showed, so.
  • 40:23The difference?
  • 40:24Pre tetanus post tetanus 24
  • 40:27hours after two weeks after,
  • 40:30maybe a little bit two weeks after here.
  • 40:33Not significant though.
  • 40:35Nothing the day after Silas Syben.
  • 40:38And then you see this doubling of data
  • 40:41power two weeks after Silas Simon.
  • 40:44And the really intriguing part of this
  • 40:47study is that we found that change
  • 40:50in AMD scores after Salas Livin.
  • 40:53Negatively correlated with change
  • 40:55in Theta power.
  • 40:56So an easy way to to say this is those
  • 40:59individuals that had the greatest
  • 41:01decrease in their hand D scores had
  • 41:04the greatest increase in their Theta power.
  • 41:13Sorry, was it computed at the brain level
  • 41:16or on specific clusters of electrodes?
  • 41:20That's a good question.
  • 41:22We used electrode FCZ umm because
  • 41:25that's we typically we do that a lot.
  • 41:28That's just where the signal was maximal,
  • 41:30which is typical for auditory
  • 41:32stimuli to have the front of central
  • 41:35electrodes have Max responses.
  • 41:36So we just competed this at FCZ.
  • 41:42Patrick, the the because of the
  • 41:45fixed order here, you can't.
  • 41:47Am I right that you can't disambiguate
  • 41:50whether the increase in power that you
  • 41:53see pre tetanus at 2 weeks is related
  • 41:56to the tetanus given at one day?
  • 42:02Well, this correlation has changed.
  • 42:04This I I should specify this
  • 42:08correlation is change from.
  • 42:1124 hours post silacci ibin
  • 42:14to two weeks psilocybin.
  • 42:16I'm sorry but I've been just in
  • 42:18the EG if you go back one slide.
  • 42:21So I don't know if this
  • 42:22makes any sense or not,
  • 42:23but this is just where my mind is going.
  • 42:24So you're giving a tetanus one
  • 42:26day after psilocybin, right?
  • 42:28And you see no change in power one
  • 42:31hour after that tetanus, right?
  • 42:34It's shorter than that.
  • 42:35It it it's it's about it's about
  • 42:388 minutes of the tone pips,
  • 42:402 minutes of tetanus and then
  • 42:43another two another 8 minutes
  • 42:45of the does it make sense?
  • 42:49Only no enhancement of LTP immediately
  • 42:51within minutes after the tenants, correct?
  • 42:53But suppose you got an enhancement
  • 42:56of LTP an hour after the tetanus.
  • 43:01See that in your week four data?
  • 43:03Because you're looking too soon.
  • 43:06And that could be the cause.
  • 43:09Of the increase that you see at 2 weeks,
  • 43:11it could be long lasting LTP.
  • 43:14Obviously enhanced could be long lasting LTP.
  • 43:19From the Week 4 stimulus, right. You
  • 43:22know that's a really interesting
  • 43:24interpretation that I didn't
  • 43:25think of. Yeah, so you don't
  • 43:27that we didn't see any change
  • 43:29from that initial week 02 weeks.
  • 43:31I would clearly it would be 4 weeks
  • 43:34and you have a silybin effect, right.
  • 43:36So it could either be that psilocybin
  • 43:38is enhancing Theta in a completely
  • 43:40non contingent way that you know two
  • 43:42weeks after psilocybin you have an
  • 43:44increased in the Theta that's induced
  • 43:46by these auditory pips full stop,
  • 43:48has nothing to do with the tetanus.
  • 43:50Or it could be that it is psilocybin
  • 43:55increases plasticity it increases.
  • 43:58Plasticity produce in a long lasting way,
  • 44:00it's just that you don't see it at 8 minutes.
  • 44:03You see it sometime hours or days
  • 44:05after and it persists for two weeks.
  • 44:07And because of the fixed story,
  • 44:08you can't, you can't disambiguate
  • 44:10those from this design.
  • 44:11But it's it's just this may be
  • 44:13a plasticity effect, right?
  • 44:14This may be a result of your tetanus.
  • 44:15It's just taking just manifesting much later.
  • 44:18What it it's a great,
  • 44:20it's a great point.
  • 44:20I didn't think of that interpretation.
  • 44:22I think either way it's a plasticity effect.
  • 44:24It could be like you said the places
  • 44:27plasticity effect from the tetanus
  • 44:29just takes longer to kick in for back.
  • 44:33Lack of a better phrase or.
  • 44:36The way we've thought about it with
  • 44:38this paper is in in revision.
  • 44:40So the way we framed it is we
  • 44:42think this increase in Theta in
  • 44:44general is sort of a qualitatively
  • 44:46different type of plasticity.
  • 44:51But yeah, in the mechanisms of synaptic
  • 44:53plasticity the they were qualitatively
  • 44:55different mechanisms involved in
  • 44:57short term plasticity lasting minutes.
  • 44:59Then there are in plasticity that
  • 45:01lasts hours or days they're completely
  • 45:03and you can dissociate them.
  • 45:05That's actually.
  • 45:05This is actually what I did my PhD thesis
  • 45:08on was blocking long lasting plasticity
  • 45:10without affecting short term plasticity.
  • 45:12You can also enhance long lasting plasticity
  • 45:14without affecting short term plasticity.
  • 45:17So depending on the mechanisms whereby.
  • 45:20Hillside and is acting on plasticity.
  • 45:22It it's it's very plausible that
  • 45:23it could have not have a short term
  • 45:26effect but have a long term effect.
  • 45:28So I think that's an important your date.
  • 45:31This is a discussion point is not
  • 45:32something your data can speak to,
  • 45:33but it's an important possibility
  • 45:34to to think, to think about when
  • 45:36looking at future studies.
  • 45:38If this were a non contingent effect,
  • 45:40meaning if this had nothing
  • 45:42to do with the tetanus,
  • 45:43it would be startling to me.
  • 45:45If you do you do you see any
  • 45:47effects in Theta in resting Theta?
  • 45:49If you just look at your resting
  • 45:52EEG if this were a non contingent.
  • 45:55Change in brain wiring that
  • 45:57causes enhanced Theta power.
  • 45:59You should see something in your resting age.
  • 46:03And if you only see it with your stimulation,
  • 46:05then that makes it sound like
  • 46:07it's a circuit specific effect,
  • 46:09which makes it to my mind more likely to
  • 46:11be a late effect of your of your tetanus.
  • 46:14Yeah, we didn't see anything
  • 46:16in the resting Theta.
  • 46:17In fact if you did so this
  • 46:20this dashed line here,
  • 46:21that's stimulus onset.
  • 46:22So if you saw differences in resting data,
  • 46:25you would actually see it in this,
  • 46:27in this window here,
  • 46:28this pre stimulus window, so.
  • 46:32But this is a great point.
  • 46:33It goes back to that plot I showed
  • 46:36earlier with the different time courses,
  • 46:38from the early, immediate early
  • 46:41genes to the synaptogenesis and the.
  • 46:45Increase in dendritic spines.
  • 46:48The one study from I think it's
  • 46:50Ravel at all showed that in pig
  • 46:52brain a single dose of Cialis
  • 46:54Cybin you don't see increases in
  • 46:57synaptic density until about.
  • 46:58Seven days after.
  • 47:00And that also makes sense because
  • 47:03the way what EG is measuring
  • 47:06is thousands of postsynaptic
  • 47:08potentials from pyramidal cells.
  • 47:11So if you have increased spine
  • 47:14density and synaptogenesis,
  • 47:15you're going to see increase
  • 47:18ERP's and increase power.
  • 47:19So that's sort of the way
  • 47:21we're thinking about it.
  • 47:26So just in summary,
  • 47:27EG long interpretation was not observed
  • 47:30in this sample depressed subjects,
  • 47:32we did it observe increased Theta power which
  • 47:36correlated with decreases in depression.
  • 47:39This increased Theta power post Silas
  • 47:42statement is objective evidence
  • 47:43of sustained electrophysiological
  • 47:44changes in the brain produced by
  • 47:47Psylocybe bin and given the correlation
  • 47:49with decreased depression,
  • 47:51this may represent a biomarker response
  • 47:53to Silas cyber couple limitations.
  • 47:55We didn't have a control group to
  • 47:58compare the EEG LTE LTP outcome.
  • 48:00We do have pilot data,
  • 48:01but we don't have the longitudinal 4
  • 48:04test days with with control subjects,
  • 48:07so it's unclear if if that lack of.
  • 48:09LP was it because that these are depressed
  • 48:12people and that's impaired in general.
  • 48:14So that's an area of future study.
  • 48:17We didn't have any baseline EEG measures,
  • 48:20you know, before the.
  • 48:22The sequence started,
  • 48:23but I think because there's a placebo arm,
  • 48:25I don't think that's a big limitation.
  • 48:28I should mention that
  • 48:29the effective data pile,
  • 48:30we're actually at trend level at .07,
  • 48:32so that's probably due
  • 48:34to the small sample size.
  • 48:35But we think these limitations
  • 48:37notwithstanding these results complement
  • 48:39the emerging notion that Silas Syben
  • 48:41and perhaps other psychedelics,
  • 48:43classical psychedelics can
  • 48:45produce long-term alterations in
  • 48:47neuroplasticity as assessed via
  • 48:49electrophysiology or EEG in this case.
  • 48:55All right. And that's what
  • 48:56I ask from the EEG portion.
  • 49:00Patrick, it's Jerry.
  • 49:01So I understand your logic by not
  • 49:03doing it before the placebo, but.
  • 49:07The studies that I know and
  • 49:09depression actually the best
  • 49:11predictor is EG of placebo response.
  • 49:13You know, the Lucia's data and others
  • 49:16that that's a pretty powerful predictor.
  • 49:18In fact, I think they're trying to
  • 49:20develop whole methodologies of predicting
  • 49:23predictor of what predictor of
  • 49:25clinical response to antidepressant.
  • 49:26Yeah, with with EG to to placebo.
  • 49:33But so the the thought was you weren't,
  • 49:35you weren't really interested in
  • 49:37the placebo response that's why
  • 49:38you didn't do it prior to placebo?
  • 49:42But Jerry, EG what EEG measure and
  • 49:46they they have, they're looking at alpha
  • 49:48and gamma and a few other things in
  • 49:50the resting part of it is proprietary,
  • 49:52so you don't know exactly what.
  • 49:54What the whole set of measures are,
  • 49:58but and they're looking at resting and then
  • 50:00they look at the change after placebo.
  • 50:05Yeah, it's a fairpoint. I guess we
  • 50:07were thinking about subject burden,
  • 50:08but you know maybe in retrospect we we
  • 50:10should have had a a baseline EEG before
  • 50:14before placebo and the whole sequence.
  • 50:16I can understand that that's
  • 50:18a that's a pretty heavy
  • 50:19burden on people right there.
  • 50:20You want to minimize it,
  • 50:21but that that was the reason
  • 50:23we didn't do it subject burden.
  • 50:29Yeah, these edges take, you know,
  • 50:30these are very depressed people.
  • 50:31They take about 3 hours.
  • 50:34Our hour and a half set up hour
  • 50:37of task and. No. Debriefing
  • 50:41you're doing pre post stimulation.
  • 50:43I think that's the lesson, the concerns.
  • 50:49So do you have a couple more slides?
  • 50:52But if there's that, I could show.
  • 50:53But if there's other questions,
  • 50:55you could do you now or I could wrap
  • 50:58up my slides, but you would want to.
  • 51:01Ask anything about the Lego piece.
  • 51:06Can I ask you a quick question?
  • 51:09Sure. Hi, this is Pasha. I'm MD,
  • 51:13pH. D student in Alex Kwanzaa.
  • 51:15So I actually did the ethers for
  • 51:16the shall at all paper that you
  • 51:17showed and I'm doing in vivo now.
  • 51:19So we're trying to think of like more
  • 51:22reverse translationally relevant.
  • 51:24Did you look
  • 51:25at any of the other bands?
  • 51:26Because I know there's been
  • 51:28some work in preclinical
  • 51:30and clinical for like
  • 51:31gamma bands and stuff, but
  • 51:32and you said all of this was in the frontal
  • 51:34cortical electrodes. Is that right?
  • 51:38Yeah, but you know, these discrete
  • 51:42auditory stimuli almost always.
  • 51:45They they live in the Theta
  • 51:47band between 4:00 and 8:00.
  • 51:48You just, you just don't,
  • 51:49you just don't say any evoked
  • 51:52activity in the higher bands.
  • 51:54Thank you. Had we done a more
  • 51:58cognitive perceptual task,
  • 51:59then certainly we would probably want
  • 52:01to look at the other bands as well,
  • 52:04but this is very simple sensory stimuli.
  • 52:06Patrick, did you look at the
  • 52:09the affected VLT EEG correlates?
  • 52:15The AV Lt. yeah, yeah.
  • 52:19That's in process, So what I didn't
  • 52:21mention to everyone is when you
  • 52:24take all the the time to get people
  • 52:27set up with the EG in the booth.
  • 52:30This this task is about 12 minutes
  • 52:32this LTP task, so you don't want
  • 52:34to do all that set up and get.
  • 52:37Just 10 minutes of data,
  • 52:3812 minutes of data.
  • 52:39So we have several other tasks that we're
  • 52:41going to be looking at and hopefully
  • 52:43we can have some follow up papers on.
  • 52:44One is and EG version of the Gray
  • 52:48auditory verbal learning task and
  • 52:50we also have gamma driving P300.
  • 52:53So there's other things that we
  • 52:55can look at that might inform.
  • 52:58Potential mechanisms.
  • 53:06Well, we have a couple of minutes.
  • 53:08I'll just quickly show a little bit of
  • 53:12data related to psychological mechanisms
  • 53:14and this was relates to in some ways
  • 53:18what could be a psychological correlate
  • 53:20of what we're seeing in terms of
  • 53:23neuroplasticity are to equate the two,
  • 53:25one being cellular,
  • 53:26but in this other concept much more
  • 53:28in the psychological realm but.
  • 53:30Still going with that same general
  • 53:33notion that psychedelics might open
  • 53:35up this period of critical plasticity
  • 53:37in which there may be more potential
  • 53:40for psychological flexibility and
  • 53:42other changes in people's lives.
  • 53:44So we did use this therapy model using
  • 53:47acceptance and commitment therapy,
  • 53:49which explicitly targets psychological
  • 53:52flexibility. That's the main mechanism.
  • 53:55We've written some papers and I could give
  • 53:58a whole talk about just this this model.
  • 54:02But the basic idea was was that we
  • 54:05saw conceptual and phenomenological
  • 54:07overlaps between the components of
  • 54:10act and the effects of solar cybin.
  • 54:13And we thought that these two might
  • 54:15synergize well together and that this
  • 54:17increases in psychological flexibility
  • 54:19which there there are measures
  • 54:21for could maybe a key mediator.
  • 54:23So we wanted to look at that and
  • 54:26increasingly actually other investigators
  • 54:27have picked up on this idea and this
  • 54:30is from now on Davis that did show it.
  • 54:32This is from survey data,
  • 54:34but did show that basic kind of model
  • 54:36of the acute psychedelic effects
  • 54:39feeding into increases in psychological
  • 54:42flexibility that that mediated.
  • 54:44Clinical improvements.
  • 54:45This far just quickly to show you
  • 54:47because I think it it was nice
  • 54:49data that we we did see.
  • 54:51So this is the AQ,
  • 54:52it's one of the primary measures that
  • 54:54was developed to look at the idea of
  • 54:57psychological flexibility decreases are
  • 54:59actually clinical improvements here.
  • 55:01So we did see a statistically
  • 55:04significant improvements in
  • 55:05psychological flexibility following
  • 55:07soybean but not after placebo and this
  • 55:09was a significant difference here.
  • 55:12We looked two weeks after Socmen
  • 55:14and again it did persist.
  • 55:16Three months later,
  • 55:18I do have some other measures that we
  • 55:21looked at that relate to this idea.
  • 55:23Especially mindfulness and there
  • 55:25were some significant changes
  • 55:26there as well as in value living.
  • 55:28And just to show,
  • 55:29you know the other thing that was Nice is,
  • 55:31is we also saw,
  • 55:32did see a correlation here between those
  • 55:36changes in psychological flexibility
  • 55:38and the actual clinical improvements.
  • 55:42So those things trending together
  • 55:43of course can't see causation,
  • 55:46but it was highly significant
  • 55:48correlation between those those two.
  • 55:51So, so just a promising direction here.
  • 55:54And you know,
  • 55:55it's interesting given the
  • 55:56small sample that we did see a
  • 55:58highly significant improvement,
  • 55:59sorry,
  • 55:59correlation here,
  • 56:00but we actually did not see a
  • 56:03statistically significant correlation,
  • 56:06really any correlation here between the
  • 56:08strength of the mystical experience and
  • 56:11the clinical improvements postal cybin,
  • 56:13which and that has,
  • 56:14you know typically been one of the
  • 56:17prominent explanatory mechanisms on the
  • 56:19more psychological experiential level.
  • 56:22So we didn't see that,
  • 56:23but we did see the correlations.
  • 56:25Both with the EEG measure
  • 56:27that Patrick shared,
  • 56:28as well as with psychological flexibility.
  • 56:32So that's just what I said there.
  • 56:33And so just to wrap up,
  • 56:34you know I think the study was
  • 56:36really a good demonstrator
  • 56:38of with psychedelic studies,
  • 56:40just how tricky these are from
  • 56:42a methodological standpoint.
  • 56:44And it's such a complex interplay
  • 56:46between expectancy effects,
  • 56:47therapy effects and drug and placebo
  • 56:49effects that we need to be really
  • 56:51mindful of as we design these trials.
  • 56:53I I do think given the robustness of
  • 56:55the clinical effects that we saw that
  • 56:58it does again add to the promise of
  • 57:00this overall treatment model both
  • 57:02suicide and therapy and potentially
  • 57:04with actions and psychological
  • 57:06flexibility as being important
  • 57:08potential ways of providing this
  • 57:11treatment to patients with depression.
  • 57:13And both of our these alterations
  • 57:16in neuroplasticity and changes
  • 57:18in psychological flexibility may
  • 57:20be important potential mechanisms.
  • 57:22Of course psychedelic therapy for depression,
  • 57:25but potentially again we we're seeing
  • 57:28effects across many other mental
  • 57:30disorders and and both of these are
  • 57:33potentially transdiagnostic mechanisms
  • 57:35and so I think that adds to the
  • 57:38intrigue around both of those so.
  • 57:41Lot of questions remain on how to deliver
  • 57:44this treatment most effectively and discuss,
  • 57:47but I think I'm just going to
  • 57:49wrap up so we can discuss here.
  • 57:51Again, just really want to thank
  • 57:54Doctor D'souza for sticking with me
  • 57:56and the study for the duration and
  • 57:59taking it to the finish line as well
  • 58:01as everyone who's been involved from.
  • 58:04Of the synergy lab at the VA there
  • 58:06and our whole team of therapists
  • 58:09and and our funders as well as the
  • 58:12study participants who were our
  • 58:14best teachers in this never so.
  • 58:17Thank you all.
  • 58:20See if there's any. Great for discussion.
  • 58:24Thank you both.
  • 58:25It's really great to see this
  • 58:27come to fruition and there's
  • 58:28some nice results, you know,
  • 58:30small and limited study,
  • 58:31but given those limitations
  • 58:32have some nice stuff in there.
  • 58:35So thank you.