Dr. Matthew Hill

Um, so this drug will boost anandamide levels quite high and in animal research showed some efficacy in modulating pain. And so they put it in a trial and it didn't work against the positive control of naproxen, which is like an NSAID, just like Advil basically. Aleve. Yeah, essentially. Yeah. So, um, and that drug didn't work that great to begin with.

Um, so this drug will boost anandamide levels quite high and in animal research showed some efficacy in modulating pain. And so they put it in a trial and it didn't work against the positive control of naproxen, which is like an NSAID, just like Advil basically. Aleve. Yeah, essentially. Yeah. So, um, and that drug didn't work that great to begin with.

Um, so this drug will boost anandamide levels quite high and in animal research showed some efficacy in modulating pain. And so they put it in a trial and it didn't work against the positive control of naproxen, which is like an NSAID, just like Advil basically. Aleve. Yeah, essentially. Yeah. So, um, and that drug didn't work that great to begin with.

So it was maybe some issues with the trial, but it essentially killed the development of the drug from that point on because everyone's like, oh, it's not going to work. So it kind of shelved for a while. Um, A colleague of mine, Marcus Heilig and Leah Mayo, Leah is now a colleague of mine in Calgary, but at the time she was a postdoc with Marcus in Sweden.

So it was maybe some issues with the trial, but it essentially killed the development of the drug from that point on because everyone's like, oh, it's not going to work. So it kind of shelved for a while. Um, A colleague of mine, Marcus Heilig and Leah Mayo, Leah is now a colleague of mine in Calgary, but at the time she was a postdoc with Marcus in Sweden.

So it was maybe some issues with the trial, but it essentially killed the development of the drug from that point on because everyone's like, oh, it's not going to work. So it kind of shelved for a while. Um, A colleague of mine, Marcus Heilig and Leah Mayo, Leah is now a colleague of mine in Calgary, but at the time she was a postdoc with Marcus in Sweden.

And they were able to get access to this molecule right before COVID essentially. And they did a trial in just healthy controls with it. which, again, this is kind of jumping the gun on some of the other stuff I'll talk about, so I'll tether back to that. But what they did was they dosed people for 10 days on this drug, and then we looked at stress and fear because this is something that I study.

And they were able to get access to this molecule right before COVID essentially. And they did a trial in just healthy controls with it. which, again, this is kind of jumping the gun on some of the other stuff I'll talk about, so I'll tether back to that. But what they did was they dosed people for 10 days on this drug, and then we looked at stress and fear because this is something that I study.

And they were able to get access to this molecule right before COVID essentially. And they did a trial in just healthy controls with it. which, again, this is kind of jumping the gun on some of the other stuff I'll talk about, so I'll tether back to that. But what they did was they dosed people for 10 days on this drug, and then we looked at stress and fear because this is something that I study.

This is something that they were interested in. And we did find that boosting anandamide with this drug over 10 days was sufficiently capable of dampening stress-induced autonomic responses. So like looking at heart rate or skin conductance. I think skin conductance was the measure we did in there, but it's a proxy for like adrenaline release.

This is something that they were interested in. And we did find that boosting anandamide with this drug over 10 days was sufficiently capable of dampening stress-induced autonomic responses. So like looking at heart rate or skin conductance. I think skin conductance was the measure we did in there, but it's a proxy for like adrenaline release.

This is something that they were interested in. And we did find that boosting anandamide with this drug over 10 days was sufficiently capable of dampening stress-induced autonomic responses. So like looking at heart rate or skin conductance. I think skin conductance was the measure we did in there, but it's a proxy for like adrenaline release.

So it blunted that and it blunted subjective feelings of stress as well. So people had lower levels of saying they actually felt stressed. And it kind of helped reduce remove this like conditioned fear memory that they had trained people to do. And so I worked with them on kind of doing the biochemistry of this to make sure the drug was working properly.

So it blunted that and it blunted subjective feelings of stress as well. So people had lower levels of saying they actually felt stressed. And it kind of helped reduce remove this like conditioned fear memory that they had trained people to do. And so I worked with them on kind of doing the biochemistry of this to make sure the drug was working properly.

So it blunted that and it blunted subjective feelings of stress as well. So people had lower levels of saying they actually felt stressed. And it kind of helped reduce remove this like conditioned fear memory that they had trained people to do. And so I worked with them on kind of doing the biochemistry of this to make sure the drug was working properly.

But it was very interesting because we did see in that situation where elevating anandamide produced kind of like a reduction in stress perception, a reduction in stress physiology responses and kind of help kind of reduce fear. And so that is kind of an interesting outcome because it tracks with some of the stuff we know about cannabis.

But it was very interesting because we did see in that situation where elevating anandamide produced kind of like a reduction in stress perception, a reduction in stress physiology responses and kind of help kind of reduce fear. And so that is kind of an interesting outcome because it tracks with some of the stuff we know about cannabis.

But it was very interesting because we did see in that situation where elevating anandamide produced kind of like a reduction in stress perception, a reduction in stress physiology responses and kind of help kind of reduce fear. And so that is kind of an interesting outcome because it tracks with some of the stuff we know about cannabis.

And I'm sure we'll talk about some of the PTSD stuff and anxiety later. But so that's kind of one of the things. The drug has not really been used that widely yet. It's still... It's one of the frustrations I have as a scientist who does a lot of translational work and with clinical partners like Leah is that getting access to these molecules is not easy when they're not kind of wide.

And I'm sure we'll talk about some of the PTSD stuff and anxiety later. But so that's kind of one of the things. The drug has not really been used that widely yet. It's still... It's one of the frustrations I have as a scientist who does a lot of translational work and with clinical partners like Leah is that getting access to these molecules is not easy when they're not kind of wide.