Rachel Carlson

There is a version of ketamine that the FDA approved in 2019 to treat depression that didn't respond to our current treatments like SSRIs. It's a nose spray called Spravato. But even that requires patients to go to a clinic. They have to stay there for at least a couple of hours while they get the treatment. And they need someone else to drive them home because ketamine can make people dissociate.

Oh. So researchers like David are trying to figure out, are there drugs that have similar effects on the brain without all the trippy side effects?

Oh. So researchers like David are trying to figure out, are there drugs that have similar effects on the brain without all the trippy side effects?

Oh. So researchers like David are trying to figure out, are there drugs that have similar effects on the brain without all the trippy side effects?

Yeah, exactly. Plus, right now, psychedelics are mostly extremely restricted, controlled drugs.

Yeah, exactly. Plus, right now, psychedelics are mostly extremely restricted, controlled drugs.

Yeah, exactly. Plus, right now, psychedelics are mostly extremely restricted, controlled drugs.

Yeah, I mean, testing whether something could potentially make a person hallucinate is really tricky, as I'm sure you can imagine. Researchers know certain receptors in our brains are involved in the hallucinogenic effect of psychedelics and ketamine. So companies like Delix are basically trying to make drugs that are like distant cousins of magic mushrooms or ketamine.

Yeah, I mean, testing whether something could potentially make a person hallucinate is really tricky, as I'm sure you can imagine. Researchers know certain receptors in our brains are involved in the hallucinogenic effect of psychedelics and ketamine. So companies like Delix are basically trying to make drugs that are like distant cousins of magic mushrooms or ketamine.

Yeah, I mean, testing whether something could potentially make a person hallucinate is really tricky, as I'm sure you can imagine. Researchers know certain receptors in our brains are involved in the hallucinogenic effect of psychedelics and ketamine. So companies like Delix are basically trying to make drugs that are like distant cousins of magic mushrooms or ketamine.

They help those trees in our brain grow new leaves, but they don't make people hallucinate. Okay, so do we know if these like non-hallucinogenic drugs work? It's definitely still up for debate, but Delix has a drug called DLX-1. It's in clinical trials now. I talked to the company's head of research and development, Eliseo Salinas.

They help those trees in our brain grow new leaves, but they don't make people hallucinate. Okay, so do we know if these like non-hallucinogenic drugs work? It's definitely still up for debate, but Delix has a drug called DLX-1. It's in clinical trials now. I talked to the company's head of research and development, Eliseo Salinas.

They help those trees in our brain grow new leaves, but they don't make people hallucinate. Okay, so do we know if these like non-hallucinogenic drugs work? It's definitely still up for debate, but Delix has a drug called DLX-1. It's in clinical trials now. I talked to the company's head of research and development, Eliseo Salinas.

He told me that the company did a clinical trial to test whether DLX-1 made people hallucinate, and it seemed like it didn't. And now they're testing the drug on patients who have depression.

He told me that the company did a clinical trial to test whether DLX-1 made people hallucinate, and it seemed like it didn't. And now they're testing the drug on patients who have depression.

He told me that the company did a clinical trial to test whether DLX-1 made people hallucinate, and it seemed like it didn't. And now they're testing the drug on patients who have depression.

And again, there's a lot more to learn. And you said other companies are doing things like this also, right? They are. Companies want to develop drugs they can patent so they can get funding for more research. So there are a bunch of groups in this space. Some are just making more traditional psychedelics.

And again, there's a lot more to learn. And you said other companies are doing things like this also, right? They are. Companies want to develop drugs they can patent so they can get funding for more research. So there are a bunch of groups in this space. Some are just making more traditional psychedelics.

And again, there's a lot more to learn. And you said other companies are doing things like this also, right? They are. Companies want to develop drugs they can patent so they can get funding for more research. So there are a bunch of groups in this space. Some are just making more traditional psychedelics.

Some are trying to make shorter acting psychedelics or engineer out potentially negative side effects, like some psychedelics bind to certain heart receptors. So they might want to take that side effect out. And all this kind of exploded around 2019, 2020, with lots of these companies popping up and eventually trying to file these patents for their respective drugs.