Opinion | ‘The Real Risk Is a Bad Trip’: What We Heard This Week
“The real risk is a bad trip.” — Smita Das, MD, PhD, MPH, of Stanford University in California, on the risks of off-label ketamine use. “It is like trying to compare apples with artichokes.” — Douglas Smith, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, discussing earlier studies of Havana syndrome patients and current NIH […]
Ketamine Clinics Diverge From APA Recommendations
The proliferation of ketamine clinics in the U.S. has veered far off course from the recommendations of the nation’s premier psychiatric association when it comes to using the anesthetic to treat mood disorders, experts say. In 2017, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) issued a consensus statement on the use of ketamine in treating mood disorders, […]
Injectable Ketamine Shows Promise in Treatment-Resistant Depression
Twice-weekly subcutaneous ketamine helped alleviate symptoms of treatment-resistant depression, according to the phase III KADS study. Among those who received at least one flexible treatment dose (0.5-0.9 mg/kg), ketamine was more than 12-times better at inducing remission of depression than the benzodiazepine midazolam (remission rate 19.6% vs 2.0%, OR 12.1, 95% CI 2.1-69.2, P=0.005), reported […]
DEA Shuts Down Telehealth Ketamine Prescriber
A prolific telehealth prescriber of sublingual ketamine, Scott William Smith, MD, has shut down his practice as of Wednesday after losing his ability to prescribe controlled substances. The closure drew an outpouring of frustration from abruptly cut-off patients, as well as questions about the long-term feasibility of online access to controlled substances. According to an […]