Melbourne will soon open Clarion Clinics’ first exclusively dedicated facility to provide psychedelic-assisted therapies legalized in Australia.
The subsidiary to biotech Incannex Healthcare IXHL received the required Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) endorsement for the administration of MDMA and psilocybin therapies for PTSD and Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD) respectively.
Reportedly “the only dedicated psychedelic-assisted therapy clinic in Australia” with a team comprised of renowned researchers, psychologists and psychiatrists, Clarion Clinics announced its intentions to open more clinics across the country and internationally.
For those among the city’s 5.2 million in need of treatment, regulations indicate that their psychiatrists must also receive HREC endorsement for their qualifications and experience and for the treatment’s protocols.
The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration or TGA (akin to the FDA) down-scheduled psilocybin for treatment of TRD and MDMA for treatment of PTSD from schedule 9 to schedule 8 in July 2023, enabling authorized psychiatrists to prescribe both drugs under the federal Authorized Prescriber Scheme.
The company reports it has received “a substantial number of expressions of interest” in treatment submissions from potential patients since opening its application process earlier in 2023.
It’s estimated that 670,000 people suffer from either TRD, PTSD or both in Australia at any given time. Many patients either do not respond to traditional treatments or experience diminishing efficacy, while psychedelic-assisted therapy has been clinically shown to help numerous people who do not respond to such treatments.
The New Facility
With fit-out complete and the clinical and administrative teams in place, Clarion claims its Melbourne clinic will be the “first dedicated psychedelic-assisted therapy clinic in Australia.”
Director Peter Widdows says the company “has the right protocols and an experienced team” to help people through these challenging conditions by delivering “potentially life-changing” treatments.
Incannex’s CEO and president Joel Latham added that “being the first entrants into this field in Australia will position Incannex, via Clarion, at the forefront of psychedelic-assisted therapies and will facilitate the smooth expansion into more clinics nationwide as we roll out the treatment protocols and business model.”
Further, the team says regulations for the use of psychedelic-assisted therapies will change in other countries as well, something Clarion “will be well placed” to take advantage of.
Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by New Africa, GillianVann and Arif_Vector on Shutterstock.
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