a16z Podcast

Psychedelics: Striking a Balance Between Benefits and Side Effects

Episode Summary

As psychedelics have shifted from drugs of abuse and recreation to powerful drugs for treating neuropsychiatric conditions -- such as depression, addiction, and PTSD -- how we can maximize their therapeutic benefits while minimizing their adverse side effects?

Episode Notes

In recent years, there’s been a shift in how we think about psychedelics – from drugs of abuse and recreation, to powerful drugs for treating neuropsychiatric conditions such as depression, addiction, and PTSD.  

But there’s still a lot we don't know about how they work, and how we can maximize their therapeutic benefits while minimizing their adverse side effects. So this episode of Journal Club discusses a method for striking that balance, from a paper published in Nature last month, “A non-hallucinogenic psychedelic analogue with therapeutic potential“... which could represent a major step forward in psychedelic medicine. 

This episode first appeared on Bio Eats World:
https://a16z.com/2021/01/21/journal-club-safer-psychedelic/