Psychedelic Alpha’s Josh Hardman sits down with Jaskaran (‘Jaz’) Singh, Vice President Psychiatry Development at Neurocrine Biosciences.
For the purposes of this conversation, however, we focus on Singh’s role in spearheading the development of esketamine for treatment-resistant depression, now marketed as Spravato.
Here, we discuss how Singh’s early work assessing ketamine’s antidepressant effects at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) encouraged him to move into industry; how his team decided to pursue esketamine; lessons learned that might be relevant for psychedelic drug developers; and his broader outlook on the field.
(Editor’s note: Given the length of this interview, we decided that—rather than paring it down—we would include sub-headings that hint at the broad theme of each question.)
In this Interview
“I think that we just got lucky there, I suppose!”—Choosing Esketamine as a Candidate; From Academia to Industry
Public Interest in Ketamine; Off-Label Use
Effect Sizes; “Jaz’s law”
Spravato with Psychological Support?
Advice for Psychedelic Drug Developers
Maintenance of Effect
Predicting Patient Response
NICE’s Repeated Rejection of Spravato Coverage in the UK
Closing Thoughts
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