Entactogens, MDMA, and Bringing New Love Drugs To Market | Matthew Baggott ~ ATTMind 177
Jun 2, 2023
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Matthew Baggott, Founder of Tactogen Inc., discusses entactogens like MDMA and explores their effects, mechanisms of action, and the development of new drugs. Topics include different entactogens, r-MDMA vs s-MDMA, Methalone, challenges in researching controlled substances, the 'loss of magic' phenomenon, ideal dosages, off-label medications, mental illness and society, legalizing psychedelics, creating an ecosystem for thriving with entactogens, and promoting health and well-being through legal access to psychedelics.
Developing a safe and predictable intactogen therapy for take-home use to increase accessibility and reduce costs.
Balancing therapeutic benefits with abuse liability to ensure intactogens provide therapy without dependence or loss of control.
Creating a convenient and accessible intactogen therapy through take-home options, allowing for individualized experiences and usage.
Focusing on safety and efficacy by minimizing cardiovascular effects, emotional vulnerability, and diminished therapeutic effects in intactogen development.
Deep dives
Intactogen Development Goals
One of the main goals in developing intactogens is to create a medication that is safe and predictable enough to be prescribed as a take-home therapy. This would increase accessibility and reduce the costs associated with traditional clinic-based therapy. The focus is on minimizing the risk of underdosing or experiencing the loss of therapeutic effects. Additionally, there is a strong emphasis on minimizing cardiovascular effects and avoiding emotional sensitivity or post-MDMA use depressive symptoms. The aim is to create an intactogen that can be used as needed throughout one's life, allowing for flexibility and individualized therapy.
Consideration of Recreational Use
The development of intactogens faces potential moral and paradigmatic challenges regarding the distinction between recreational and therapeutic use. While accessibility and positive experiences are important aspects, maintaining a balance between therapeutic intent and potential abuse liability is crucial. The aim is to develop intactogens that provide therapeutic benefits without leading to dependence or loss of control. While there are regulatory considerations and concerns about off-label use, the goal is to make intactogen therapy accessible and affordable, even for purposes beyond the approved indications.
Take-Home Intactogen Therapy
Development of a take-home therapy for intactogens is intended to provide greater accessibility and convenience to individuals seeking therapy. This approach would reduce costs and time associated with traditional in-clinic therapy sessions, making intactogen therapy more accessible to those in remote areas or with limited resources. It also aims to explore different therapeutic approaches outside of the traditional psychedelic-assisted therapy model, allowing for individualized experiences and usage based on personal needs and preferences.
Balancing Safety and Efficacy
The development of intactogens seeks to find a balance between safety and efficacy. Safety concerns include cardiovascular effects, potential emotional vulnerability, and diminished therapeutic effects. Efforts are focused on minimizing these factors to create a medication that is safe for at-home use and increases the potential for positive therapeutic outcomes. By collecting empirical data and addressing regulatory concerns, the aim is to ensure that intactogen therapy is both safe and provides significant therapeutic value.
Challenging Paradigms and Enhancing Access to Psychedelics
The podcast episode explores the need to challenge the current paradigms surrounding psychedelics and emphasizes the importance of access to these substances. It discusses the potential for non-hallucinogenic psychoplastogens derived from psychedelics and highlights the focus on reducing costs and addressing regulatory concerns. The episode also addresses the danger of medicalizing psychedelics without considering the broader social context and the need for systemic social change. It touches on issues such as societal fear, the profit motives of the pharmaceutical industry, and the role of community in integrating psychedelics into healthcare practices. The episode stresses the importance of inclusion, stakeholder involvement, and community-building in the development of psychedelic medicine.
Concerns in the Psychedelic Industry: Patent Trolling and Extracting Value
The episode discusses some of the concerns within the psychedelic biotech and therapeutic development industry. It highlights the practice of patent trolling, where companies file patents for existing practices or technologies to discourage competition. It notes the negative impact of bad patents, which can stifle innovation and create barriers to access for patients. The episode also highlights the issue of companies extracting value from the knowledge and practices developed by the psychedelic community without giving back. It emphasizes the need for companies to recognize psychedelic users as stakeholders and include them in the decision-making process. Tactigen, the company mentioned in the episode, is praised for its community engagement and efforts to align the company's activities with the long-term health of the community.
Building a Positive Future for Psychedelics
The episode concludes by discussing the opportunity to create a positive future for psychedelics. It highlights the need to learn from past mistakes, such as the commodification of traditional practices like in the case of Maria Sabina and R. Gordon Wasson. The episode emphasizes the importance of valuing the cultural and community aspects of psychedelic use and avoiding the medicalization of psychedelics that ignores the broader context. It emphasizes the need to approach psychedelic medicine development with a focus on community-building, inclusivity, and long-term impact. TACTIGEN's approach is praised for its efforts to involve the community, recognize stakeholders, and create processes that align with the long-term well-being of individuals and society at large.
This episode features Matthew Baggott of Tactogen Inc. and will explore entactogens, which are drugs like MDMA, 2C-B, and Methalone.
We start with setting a basic framework for what an entactogen is and a few example drugs, before exploring the complexities in their various effects, mechanisms of action, and both the legislative and technical process of the development of novel or new entactogenic drugs.
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For links to Baggott's work, full show notes, and a link to watch this episode in video, head to bit.ly/ATTMind177
