Pharmacology Research & Perspectives
April 1, 2026
Jordana Kazdan, Karim S Ladha, Muhammad Ishrat Husain
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and chronic pain are independently debilitating conditions that frequently co-occur. This comorbidity poses a significant clinical challenge, resulting in greater symptom severity, higher disability, and worse prognosis than either condition alone. Current therapies often address each disorder in isolation, leaving individuals with comorbid MDD and chronic pain...
Eur Neuropsychopharmacol
November 7, 2025
Mikkel Højlund, Helin Y. Kafali, Begüm Kırmızı et al.
12 citations
Efficacy, all-cause discontinuation, and safety of serotonergic psychedelics and MDMA to treat mental disorders: A living systematic review with meta-analysis.
BJPsych Open
September 12, 2025
Karim S Ladha, Jiwon Lee, Gabriella Mattina et al.
Nitrous oxide may possess antidepressant effects; however, limited data exist on repeated administrations and active placebo-controlled studies in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). We aimed to test the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial examining a 4-week course of nitrous oxide or midazolam, an active placebo. In this randomised, active, placebo-controlled pilot trial, 40...
Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie
September 1, 2025
Mindy Lu, Victoria Tucci, Nandana D. Parakh et al.
Emerging evidence suggests that 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy may be a promising intervention for chronic pain. We designed the Ecstasy for Alleviating Severe Chronic Neuropathic Pain (EASE-Pain) trial, a randomized controlled trial comparing MDMA with an active placebo (methylphenidate) for pain relief. We sought to conduct a prospective preference assessment...
Canadian Journal of Pain
November 8, 2024
Jiwon Lee, Kaylyssa Philip, Hance Clarke et al.
3 citations
The PEACE-PAIN trial study design is supported by patient survey responses but may benefit from modifications, namely incorporating thorough discussions of the current evidence for efficacy, safety, tolerability, and approaches to address adverse effects of psilocybin. Additionally, the interest in participation by individuals with prior psychedelic use holds important methodological...
JMIR Research Protocols
April 17, 2024
Akash Goel, Bhavya Kapoor, Hillary Chan et al.
2 citations
Chronic pain affects approximately 8 million Canadians (~20%), impacting their physical and mental health while burdening the health care system with costs of upwards of US $60 billion a year. Indeed, patients are often trialed on numerous medications over several years without reductions to their symptoms. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify new therapies for chronic pain to improve...
PLoS One
2024
Josh Martin, Fatemeh Gholamali Nezhad, Alice Rueda et al.
2 citations
Ketamine has recently attracted considerable attention for its rapid effects on patients with major depressive disorder, including treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Despite ketamine's promising results in treating depression, a significant number of patients do not respond to the treatment, and predicting who will benefit remains a challenge. Although its antidepressant effects are known to...
PLoS One
2024
Karim S Ladha, Jiwon Lee, Gabriella Mattina et al.
Nitrous oxide has shown potentially as an efficacious intervention for treatment-resistant depression, yet there remains insufficient evidence pertaining to repeated administration of nitrous oxide over time and active placebo-controlled studies with optimal blinding. Thus, we aim to examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a six-week follow up study examining the effects of a 4 week...
Anesthesiology
October 1, 2023
Akash Goel, Yeshith Rai, Shayan Sivadas et al.
29 citations
Chronic pain is a public health concern that affects approximately 1.5 billion people globally. Conventional therapeutic agents including opioid and non-opioid analgesics have been associated with adverse side effects, issues with addiction, and ineffective analgesia. Novel agents repurposed to treat pain via different mechanisms are needed to fill the therapeutic gap in chronic pain...
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
August 1, 2022
Helen Liu, Jaimie Kerzner, Ilya Demchenko et al.
To systematically review published research studies and ongoing clinical trials investigating nitrous oxide (N2 O) in psychiatric disorders, providing an up-to-date snapshot of the clinical research landscape. A comprehensive literature search was conducted for studies published until June 2021 using the OVID databases (MEDLINE, Embase, APA PsycInfo) and the clinical trial registries...
Journal of Pain Research
June 1, 2022
Sandra J Drozdz, Akash Goel, Matthew W Mcgarr et al.
2 citations
Sandra J Drozdz,1 Akash Goel,1â 3 Matthew W McGarr,4 Joel Katz,3,5â 7 Paul Ritvo,5,7 Gabriella F Mattina,1 Venkat Bhat,8â 10 Calvin Diep,3 Karim S Ladha1,3,10 1Department of Anesthesia, St. Michaelâs Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada; 2Department of Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; 3Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine,...
Chronic Stress
2022
Sarah Kuburi, Anne-Marie Di Passa, Vanessa K Tassone et al.
14 citations
Preliminary evidence supports the use of psychedelics for major depressive disorder (MDD). However, less attention has been given to the neural mechanisms behind their effects. We conducted a systematic review examining the neuroimaging correlates of antidepressant response following psychedelic interventions for MDD. Through MEDLINE, Embase, and APA PsycINFO, 187 records were identified and 42...