Dr. Santiago Madero

Santiago Madero is a medical doctor from Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia. He has an MSc from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in cytogenetics. He completed his residency in Psychiatry at the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona, where he was later awarded a "Contracte de Recerca Clínic Josep Font-Emili Letang", to develop the multidisciplinary research line in the study of biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid of first psychotic episodes. During the last years he has led the development of a new research unit at Hospital Clínic focused on the study and implementation of treatments with psychedelic substances in treatment-resistant depression and other mental disorders. He is currently participating as a researcher and therapist in two clinical trials with 5-MeO-DMT for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression. He is coordinator of the working group on psychedelics of the Catalan Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health. He is co-founder and vice-president of the Spanish Society of Psychedelic Medicine.

This talk will focus on the latest pharmacological and biological developments in the treatment of trauma. It will be focused mostly but not solely on the recent resurgence of the use of psychedelic substances for the treatment of PTSD. This talk will address different subjects ranging from history, context, preclinical studies, phase II & III clinical trials results, as well as methodological aspects and challenges inherent to the studies involving psychedelic substances. It will also address the current European and worldwide regulatory and access landscape surrounding the approval of these substances for medical use.

• Madero S, Alvarez OD. (2023). Premise, promise and challenges of MDMA assisted therapy for PTSD. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2023 May;70:19-20. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2023.02.002. Epub 2023 Feb 15. PMID: 36806884; PMCID: PMC9930690.
• Mitchell, JM et al. (2021). MDMA-assisted therapy for severe PTSD: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study. Nature Medicine, 27(6), 1025–1033. https://doi.org/10.1038/S41591-021-01336-3
• Mitchell, JM et al. (2023). MDMA-assisted therapy for moderate to severe PTSD: a randomized, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial. Nature Medicine, 29(10), 2473–2480. https://doi.org/10.1038/S41591-023-02565-4
• Burback, L et al. (2024). Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A State-of-the-art Review. Current Neuropharmacology, 22(4), 557–635. https://doi.org/10.2174/1570159X21666230428091433
• Zaretsky, TG et al. (2024). The Psychedelic Future of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment. Current Neuropharmacology, 22(4), 636–735. https://doi.org/10.2174/1570159X22666231027111147
• Gonda, X et al (2022). Invisible wounds: Suturing the gap between the neurobiology, conventional and emerging therapies for posttraumatic stress disorder. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 61, 17–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2022.05.010