TORONTO, July 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ – Aion Therapeutic Inc. (CSE: AION) (“Aion Therapeutic” or the “Company“) announced today that Dr. Winston De La Haye, Medical Director of the Aion International Center for Psychedelic Psychiatry in Jamaica (the “Center“), will be speaking at the international CanEx Psychedelics Summit in Montego Bay, Jamaica, taking place July 15 – 16, 2021.
Dr. De La Haye will be speaking on, “Psychedelics, the New Frontier in Psychiatry,” revealing for the first time Aion Therapeutic’s signature protocol of starting psilocybin-naive patients on low microdoses and working them up slowly, with supervision, to therapeutic doses over time.
In addition, Dr. De La Haye will be announcing the opening of the Aion International Center for Psychedelic Psychiatry, a first of its kind, in Kingston, Jamaica.
The Center will initially specialize in the use of psilocybin for the treatment of addiction (tobacco, alcohol and other drug misuse), treatment-resistant depression and anxiety associated with life-threatening illnesses. In addition, the Center will be studying the effectiveness of psilocybin as a new therapy for opioid addiction, Alzheimer’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anorexia nervosa.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently designated psilocybin therapy as a “breakthrough therapy” for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). “MDD is a substantial public health concern, affecting more than 300 million individuals worldwide. Depression is the number one cause of disability, and the relative risk of all-cause mortality for those with depression is 1.7 times greater than the risk for the general public. In the United States, approximately 10% of the adult population has been diagnosed with MDD in the past 12 months, and the yearly economic burden of MDD is estimated to be $210 billion.”1
“Across the 36 largest countries in the world, in the absence of scaled-up treatment, it is projected that more than 12 billion days of lost productivity (equivalent to more than 50 million years of work) are attributable to depression and anxiety disorders every year, at an estimated cost of US $925 billion. Assuming the same distribution of costs across lower-income and higher-income countries holds for all other countries (representing 20% of the world’s population), the global cost per year is $1.15 trillion.”2
“We need all available and effective products for the treatment of patients with mental illness. Psychedelic Psychiatry has the potential to change the lives of millions of patients, reducing their disability and improving their quality of life,” said Dr. De La Haye. “As a Johns Hopkins Alumnus, it is our intention to follow the best treatment protocols like those being established at Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.”
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| 1 The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2015;76(2):155-162 |
| 2 Lancet Psychiatry 3: 415–24 |
Dr. De La Haye, M.D., M.P.H, D.M., I.C.A.P. is Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Jamaica and a Consultant General and Addiction Psychiatrist at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI). He completed his MD (Cum Laude) at the University of Pecs in Hungary, his Postgraduate Degree in Psychiatry at the UWI, his Masters in Public Health (Cum Laude) and a Fulbright Fellowship in Substance Abuse at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU). He is an Internationally Certified Addiction Professional and a Global Master Trainer of Trainers in the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders.
Dr. De La Haye is a past Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health and Wellness in Jamaica, Member of the Medical Council of Jamaica, Member of the International Society for Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP), past President of the Medical Association of Jamaica, past President of the Jamaica Psychiatric Association, past President of the Jamaica Fulbright Alumni Association, past Chairman of the Bellevue Hospital Board of Management, and past Deputy Chairman of the National Council on Drug Abuse in Jamaica.
The Aion International Center for Psychedelic Psychiatry, in addition to treating patients, looks forward to collaborating with The UWI and other tertiary institutions in Jamaica in the research and development of cutting-edge, effective and safe products for treating patients with mental illness. The Center also recognizes the importance of regulating the psychedelic industry and looks forward to working closely with the MOHW in Jamaica as they move towards setting up this very important regulatory body.
Upon opening, the Aion International Center for Psychedelic Psychiatry will be accessible for both Jamaican and international patients.
About Aion Therapeutic Inc.
Aion Therapeutic Inc. through its wholly-owned subsidiary, AI Pharmaceuticals Jamaica Limited, is in the business of research and development, treatment, data mining and state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (machine learning) techniques, focused on the development of combinatorial pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals utilizing compounds from cannabis (cannabinoids), psychedelic mushrooms (psilocybin), fungi (edible mushroom), natural psychedelic formulations (Ayahuasca), and other medicinal plants in a legal environment for this type of discovery. In addition, Aion Therapeutic is creating a strong international intellectual property portfolio related to its discoveries.
For further information, please contact:
Public Relations
KCSA Strategic Communications
Anne Donohoe
aion@kcsa.com
Investor Relations
KCSA Strategic Communications
Phil Carlson
(212) 896-1233
aion@kcsa.com
Aion Therapeutic Inc.
Graham Simmonds
Executive Vice Chair & CEO
(416) 843-2881
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