Shares in MDMA psychotherapy player Emyria (ASX:EMD) jumped 9.4% to 3.5cps on Monday following reports of ‘interim’ success treating patients with PTSD.
Eight patients were treated with MDMA – in conjunction with a professional therapist in the room – with all patients demonstrating “substantial improvement in PTSD symptoms,” Emyria reported on Monday.
Patients self-reported gains in quality of life which Emyria perceives to prove both the market potential of MDMA in therapeutic contexts, and, that it could work beyond immediate symptom relief – in other words, achieving a durable psychological improvement.
It isn’t clear what questions patients responded to. Of the 8 patients, the mean age is 45 years with both women and men involved.
A description of the treatment method provided by Emyria on Monday states the program is a 10-16 week endeavour with over 90 hours of therapy and specialist involvement on top of dosages with MDMA. Monday’s ‘interim’ data was based on two or three sesions.
According to Emyria’s description of the full 2-4 month program, multiple intervening sessions take place throughout the program; administrators are also prepared to deal with dependence issues which may emerge.
“These early Real-World results from our MDMA-Assisted Therapy program highlight the significant potential of this approach for PTSD care and provide an early indication of its effectiveness in real clinical settings beyond controlled trials,” Emyria CEO Michael Winlo said.
“Emyria is uniquely positioned to lead the global development and refinement of this treatment as Australia is currently the only jurisdiction permitting these therapies under stringent oversight.
“We believe we have a substantial head start in gathering crucial Real-World Data and refining the approach to fully realise the potential of MDMA-AT thereby helping patients and also advancing the therapy’s ongoing improvement.”
EMD last traded at 3.5cps.