As Mind Medicine Australia awaits the results of a rescheduling application before the Therapeutic Goods Administration to allow psychedelic medications to be used more widely in clinical therapy, the charity organisation has announced a new partnership with the company Emyria.
Together, MMA and Emyria plan to develop an evidence-based, best practice model to support the safe and appropriate initiation, delivery and monitoring of psychedelic-assisted therapies in Australia.
The partnership also intends to develop a national clinical evidence registry to support research into the safety, effectiveness and cost benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Initially, the focus will be on specialist-directed use of MDMA assisted therapies for treatment resistant post-traumatic stress disorder, and psilocybin assisted therapies for treatment resistant depression.
The partnership will leverage Emyria’s experience across its national network of Emerald Clinics.
Who are Emyria?
Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX: EMD), Emyria describes itself as ‘a company that accelerates treatment development for patients with unmet needs’.
This week they said they were pleased to announce their partnership with MMA to ‘co-develop a gold-standard and data-driven clinical model for the safe provision of psychedelic-assisted therapies in Australia.’
Emyria’s Managing Director, Dr Michael Winlo, said, ‘We’re delighted to support Mind Medicine Australia by developing a scalable psychedelic-assisted therapy care model for patients suffering from treatment resistant post-traumatic stress disorder, treatment resistant depression and substance abuse.
‘Emyria has unique expertise caring for patients with unmet needs while also generating high quality clinical evidence using our Real World Evidence data platform,’ he said.
Care model
Under the terms of the partnership, Emyria will design a care model describing how psychedelic-assisted therapies could be delivered safely to patients with major mental health concerns, pending the successful rescheduling of psilocybin and MDMA by the TGA.
Mind Medicine Australia will provide access to its international network of experts, clinical trainers and treatment model strategies. The model will draw on pivotal research conducted recently in North America and Europe.
Emyria’s data registry will collect real world clinical data on diagnoses, concomitant medications, dosing information and patient responses to psychedelic-assisted treatments as measured using validated clinical and patient-reported endpoints.
This data will support ongoing research into the safety, effectiveness and cost benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapies for major mental health concerns compared to current alternatives.
New partnership to provide high quality clinical evidence
Mind Medicine Australia’s Chairman, Peter Hunt AM, said, ‘Mental health is a growing global health concern and new care models are needed. Psychedelic-assisted therapies show incredible promise, but further high quality clinical evidence is needed to demonstrate their effectiveness.
‘This is why we’re excited to work with Emyria, who can help us develop a model of care that provides patients safe access to these promising treatments.
‘The partnership will also allow us to generate high-quality data, which can inform ongoing research and development efforts and accelerate the widespread adoption and availability of these therapies for patients in need,’ he said.
Both parties will contribute in-kind to the partnership. Commercial opportunities that may arise from the development of these therapies will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
For further information on Medicine-Assisted-Psychotherapies, please visit the MMA website.
