Psychedelics Briefs: Ketamine One Adds Scent-based VR to Therapy

A deal recently signed by Ketamine One will allow the Vancouver-based mental health treatment provider to add a virtual reality component to its psychedelic treatments.

Ketamine One has inked a 2-year agreement to use OVR Tech’s Inhale Wellness Platform, an olfactory-enabled VR platform that is designed to enhance immersion, promote relaxation and help manage stress. The technology will be used to add an aromatherapy component to treatments involving ketamine, psilocybin, DMT and MDMA. The platform includes a head-mounted display known as the ION, scent cartridges and scent-focused nature scenes.

“The ability for our clinicians to alter perceptual experiences with VR and the ION is extremely promising,” Quang Henderson, MD, chair of Ketamine One’s Clinic Innovation Council, said in a news release. “Optimizing the therapeutic setting is one of the main goals of our VR-based research and development program, and being able to utilize the sense of smell to help patients relax, reduce tension and lower stress is expected to result in the development of a comprehensive treatment.”

Awakn signs lease for London property

Awakn Life Sciences, the Toronto-based biotech firm that develops psychedelic medicines to treat addiction, announced that it has signed a 10-year lease for a psychedelic-focused therapy center to treat addiction and other mental health conditions in the United Kingdom. Awakn Clinics London will be a 5,000-square-foot facility with 8 treatment rooms. Its treatment offerings will include ketamine-assisted therapies.

Once marketing and regulatory authorization is granted, the facility plans to use MDMA therapies as well.

The London facility is 1 of 3 Awakn clinics slated to open in the UK this year. The company is also launching centers in Bristol and Manchester.