Awakn Life Sciences will be carrying out a follow-on behavioural study to focus on gambling disorder following its recent successful pilot study and patent filing.
Biotechnology company Awakn recently announced the filing of a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) for the treatment of behavioural addictions with ketamine and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.
Following on from its successful initial pilot study, the new, larger study will include 42 patients who are suffering from gambling disorder, and will see participants undergo a memory reactivation procedure, which is designed to weaken the link between reward and addiction memories.
The larger placebo-controlled study will be the first investigation globally to explore this technique to treat gambling disorder – a condition that affects up to 450 million people globally.
In the US alone, it is estimated that more than 2.5 per cent of the population suffer from Gambling Disorder, that is over 8 million people2. With no pharmacological treatments currently available, the need to find an effective treatment has never been more acute.
Awakn CEO, Anthony Tennyson, commented: “Awakn is dedicated to helping people who are suffering from addiction, and we are greatly enthused by the significant research and development milestones we have passed in recent weeks.
“None of this would be possible without the dedication of the Awakn team and I would like to formally thank them, and everyone involved, including patients, physicians, and carers.”
The study will use advanced brain imaging technology EEG (Electro Encephalography) and will index the synaptic plasticity post-ketamine administration with the aim of identifying the window of greatest neuroplastic change.
This would potentially allow Awakn to predict when therapy will be at its most effective due to the neuroplasticity. The study will also collect detailed pharmacokinetic (PK) data and analyse metabolites as well as examining neurological biomarkers.
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