Stress related psychiatric disorders (SRPDs) such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder (MDD), mood disorders, psychotic disorders, anxiety disorders, substance use disorders (SUDs) and more, are a leading disease burden worldwide with increasing diagnoses among adolescents as well as adults. They are influenced by both genetic predisposition and environmental factors.
Psychedelics, such as MDMA, Psilocybin, Ketamine, LSD and other psychedelics are gaining momentum as highly effective therapeutic options in treating SRPDs. In studies of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) for SPRDs, beneficial effects have been observed, which lasted long after treatment ended, and often after just one treatment regimen. However, it is crucial that practitioners determine patient PAT candidacy.
Prof. Candace Lewis, at Arizona State University, has created a framework to establish a global collaboration among scientists, industry experts and practitioners, and enable precision medicine approaches in PATs for SRPDs. This framework includes a centralized biological repository as well as a database for psychedelic science, named the psychedelic genome project (PGP). The PGP will be the first database that uses machine learning algorithms to analyze different data parameters and enable patient screening to identify patients who may be at high risk for negative outcomes, as well as identify the optimal psychedelic therapy and precision medicine approaches to predict treatment outcomes.
This technology ushers in a novel framework for enabling precision medicine of PATs, improved patient outcomes, minimized adverse reactions, and ultimately reduced healthcare costs.
Potential Applications
- Framework for precision medicine for PATs
- Use by psychedelic clinics and therapists
- Use by companies developing PATs as part of clinical trials and eventual commercial products
Benefits and Advantages
- All samples in the biorepository will be stored, DNA isolated, quantified, quality controlled and assayed under the same protocol
- DNA is genotyped and standard quality control steps used to remove low-quality variants and samples
- All demographic and clinical data, including pre- and post-treatment, is shared among collaborators (utilizing deidentified IDs)
- Responses to PATs are defined by continuous scores and categorical outcome using scaled clinical outcomes
- Will result in improved patient outcomes
- Will advance responsible therapy practices
- Will develop genomic and epigenetic correlates of psychedelic responses and SRPD treatment mechanisms
For more information about the inventor(s) and their research, please see