The research renaissance into the neuroscience and therapeutic applications of psychedelics represents one of the most promising initiatives in brain science and neuropsychopharmacology, given the huge unmet needs in the therapeutic areas they aim to treat.
Actually, the fundamental therapeutic benefit is the combination of psychedelic medicine and therapy. The drug then acts as a catalyst for treatment - it is not a treatment in itself. Therapy allows patients to incorporate the sense of unity experienced by the psychedelic consumption into their identities in an enduring way. The compound would then serve as an enhancement to a new psychotherapeutic process, grounded in a relationship-centered approach, that views mental health through a biopsychosocial lens.
In 2021, ground-breaking findings on therapeutic psychedelics were published in journals such as Lancet, Nature and New England Journal of Medicine. Top-tier U.S./ universities like New York University, Johns Hopkins and the University of California followed Imperial College London, which became the first to establish a center dedicated to the study of psychedelic compounds in 2019.
Psychedelic science is advancing rapidly.
Ketamine for depression treatment is already registered and the FDA might approve MDMA for PTSD-assisted therapy in 2023. European clinical centers are researching psychedelics as well, and regulatory approvals in the continent are expected to follow.
On the other hand, there is an increasing concern that European health systems may not be prepared for these novel treatments. The issues include inadequate clinical trial environment, obsolete drug control policies, the uniqueness of treatments that bring together both drugs and therapy that is currently not recognized by regulation, lack of infrastructure and trained therapists and other healthcare professionals and lack of standards to ensure optimal care and safety for patients undergoing psychedelic-assisted therapies. These facts seem to be amplified by vast inequalities in healthcare delivery across Europe and poor mental health care and services.
With this in mind, the Psychedelic Access and Research European Alliance (PAREA) was conceived as a non-profit, multistakeholder and multidisciplinary partnership bringing together patient organizations, medical associations, scientific societies, psychedelics foundations and the industry sector. PAREA is a Greek term that translates to ‘doing something together’ or ‘a venue for the growth of the human spirit and the exploration of ideas to enrich the quality of life.’
These are therefore the guiding values of the new organization: to change perceptions about psychedelic medicines and therapies by providing evidence-based policy recommendations and expertise to the EU policymakers while also fostering more EU-funded research to support the safe use of the novel compounds.
Other goals include facilitating new research partnerships, collaborating to accelerate marketing authorization for psychedelic novel treatments, working for a coherent EU policy and regulatory framework, generating solutions to prepare healthcare systems for the adoption of these therapies and safeguarding timely and equitable access.
PAREA will officially launch at a virtual event to take place on June 23. The speakers joining are former director of the US National Institute of Mental Health Dr. Thomas R. Insel, PAREA Chair Professor David Nutt, Member of the European Parliament Dr. Sara Cerdas, and Professor Gitte Moos Knudsen.
Before the launch, Prof. Nutt underscored that “Health innovations are meaningless if people can’t benefit from them directly. At the launch event, we will present PAREA Call to Action with key priority areas that should be addressed to make sure that the emerging psychedelic-assisted therapies will reach those who need them in Europe.”
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