On January 30, 2011, co-therapists Michael Mithoefer, M.D., and Annie Mithoefer, B.S.N., will lead a one-day training course for the therapist team for our Jordanian study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. The course is a refresher for the therapists who will be conducting the treatment sessions, as the team already went through our standard training program in
Charleston, SC, immediately prior to our conference “Psychedelic Science in the 21st Century” in April 2010. The one-day refresher course will familiarize the therapists with the latest revisions to the adherence criteria in MAPS’ treatment manual and ensure that they are ready to begin once the study protocol has been approved. The protocol already has the approval of the Al Rashid Institutional Review Board (IRB) and was submitted to the Jordanian FDA in December.
On January 31, Michael, Annie, MAPS Executive Director Rick Doblin, Ph.D., and MAPS Clinical Research Associate Berra Yazar-Klosinski, Ph.D., will participate in an investigators’ meeting with the Jordanian team, including Principal Investigator Nasser Shuriquie, M.D. The meeting is part of the study initiation activities, and will provide an opportunity for the investigators and therapists to plan for the study and work out any last-minute issues. The face-to-face meeting is important because it allows the team to ask questions about the study protocol and to start a dialogue about how the study will proceed. The next step will be to get final approval from the Jordanian FDA, after which we can start the import/export permit process to bring the MDMA from Switzerland to Jordan. We could then begin enrolling subjects, which we expect will include Iraqi refugees living in Jordan as well as Jordanians suffering from PTSD.
