The Role of Pharmacists in the Field of Psychedelics

Cody Wenthur, PharmD, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discusses the role of pharmacists in the field of psychedelics—from routine tasks to groundbreaking opportunities—as well as what led the University of Wisconsin-Madison to launch of a master’s program and capstone certificate in psychoactive pharmaceutical investigation, and the integration of expertise across psychiatry, psychotherapy, and addiction treatment specialists he looks forward to seeing at the Sana Symposium.

Read the transcript:

Doug Edwards:  Hello, I'm Doug Edwards, director of the Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Learning Network. Today, I'm joined by Dr Cody Wenthur, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which has recently launched a Master's and Capstone Certificate in Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation.

Dr Wenthur is dedicated to improving treatment for psychiatric illnesses, particularly substance use disorders and major depressive disorder using novel, immunologic, and neurochemical approaches.

Welcome, Dr Wenthur. I'm so delighted you could join us today.

Dr Cody Wenthur:  Thank you very much for having me, Doug.

Edwards:  Absolutely. Let's start with the role of pharmacists. As psychedelic medications are approved, what is going to be the role of pharmacists?

Dr Wenthur:  In the event of approval of psychedelics, there are several ways in which pharmacists can get involved, ranging from the routine to the more ground-breaking.

On the routine side, of course, pharmacists will continue to be the go-to experts for handling, dispensing, record-keeping of controlled substances and other prescription medications. This will be relevant across community settings clinic, inpatient, outpatient. They'll continue to participate in medication therapy management.

In the psychiatric environment, where polypharmacy or use of multiple medications is common, the role of pharmacists in noting potential drug interactions with psychedelics and identification of opportunities to deprescribe, where appropriate, will continue to be important.

On the more ground-breaking side, potentially, there's a huge amount of enthusiasm in the pharmacy community for pharmacists working at the top of their license and implementing services that allow them to do that.

Because of this, pharmacists will be eager to provide both professional and infrastructural support for safely guiding psychedelic experience as part of their services.

We've seen pharmacists have multiple examples of this advanced practice, like the popularity and success of pharmacists providing services like direct administration of injectables, including vaccines, of course, but also psychiatric medications like Vivitrol.

Pharmacists directly engage in harm reduction efforts, like dispensing of Naloxone directly on a massive scale. These type of success stories demonstrate the pharmacist's and profession's ability to not only take on new roles, but to deliver solutions at a population-wide level.

That's going to be a big challenge if we institute a new psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy model. There's both great enthusiasm as well as deep, deep well of effective expertise available in the form of pharmacists.

Edwards:  It's quite fascinating. This whole infrastructure of administering psychedelics is essentially just starting to be built, so it is an opportunity for pharmacists to be involved at the ground level.

Along those lines, what led you and the university to launch this MS and capstone program? What was behind it?

Dr Wenthur:  As the founding director of the Psychoactive Pharmaceutical Investigation Master's Program, I'm proud to see the launch of this program and the Capstone.

They add to 130-year history of innovation at the UW School of Pharmacy, including the first to offer [laughs] a bachelor's degree, the first to award doctoral degrees in pharmaceutical sciences, the social study of pharmacy and pharmaceutical history. These diverse strengths, both from within our school and beyond, are essential to the curricular development of this program.

To your points, the effective study and application of psychedelics as therapeutics demands careful attention, not only to the science behind their efficacy, but also to the cultural and historical factors that have shaped their use, and, of course, the social, legal, and administrative factors that are going to shape their ultimate deployment.

Our programs were developed recognizing that professional interests and academics are expanding rapidly beyond academia.

Just as there's a need for expansion of the workforce to support safe and effective use of these compounds by patients, we think there's also a parallel need to expand the scientific and technical workforce that are capable of working with these compounds in a pharmaceutical research setting, whether that's during development, processing, quality assurance, or beyond.

While the psychoactive drug sector, including psychedelics, appears to be on a very rapid growth trajectory for the next decade, there's been some significant loss of expertise in this area over the years as the risks of CNS drug developments caused a lot of traditional pharma companies to either limit or completely halt their research efforts in this space.

With this option, we aim to help reinvigorate innovation and support the ethical growth in the psychoactive pharmaceutical industry by recruiting, supporting, and ultimately graduating a diverse body of individuals that have learned the technical best practices and essential scientific principles, while still grappling with those real-world issues like resource exploitation, knowledge management, and the problem of, potentially, inequitable access to the benefits of research and innovative therapeutic models.

Ewards:  Quite fascinating. It's a great time to be launching a program like this. As we said, definitely, we're in the early stages of establishing how psychedelic medicine will be used and administered, and researched. Great timing.

We're so excited that you'll be joining us at the Sana Symposium. What are you looking forward to at this year's conference?

Dr Wenthur:  I'm excited to see the integration of expertise across psychiatry, psychotherapy, and addiction treatment specialists during the symposium. This type of interprofessional approach is critical and amazing that Sana's supporting it.

I particularly look forward to observing and participating in dialogues about how psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy approaches can serve as models for the healthcare team to work together in innovative new ways to address the serious mental health concerns that we're faced with.

Of course, I'm also pretty eager to hear about the specific new innovations and indications proposed for the application of psychedelics themselves. I'm always enthusiastic about the prospect of making and renewing connections with all the colleagues that make working and studying in this area such a rewarding experience.

Edwards:  We're delighted that you'll be joining us. I'd like to thank you, Dr. Wenthur, for spending some time with me today.

Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you can join myself and Dr. Wenthur to learn more about the latest in psychedelic research and treatment strategies for mental health and addiction professionals at the inaugural Sana Symposium.

It's a virtual event taking place this September from the same team that brings you Psych Congress, The Evolution of Psychotherapy, and the National Conferences on Addiction Disorders. Be sure to visit sanasymposium.com to learn more and to register.