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Researchers at The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity College Dublin have received funding for “The SAFEGUARDING-Psychotropic Use Project: Supporting sAFE and GradUAL reDuction of loNG-term Psychotropic Use” (see Project Summary below). 

 

The project includes scholarships for qualified PhD candidates. If you (a) know of someone who might be interested in joining this much-needed research effort by applying for a scholarship and/or (b) are a member of social network that may include potential candidates, please share the information and links below.

 

The deadline for applications is July 14, 2022.  For queries about the project, please contact Dr. Cathal Cadogan (cathal.cadogan@tcd.ie), Principal Investigator.

 

Project Summary

There is a growing cohort of patients looking to discontinue long-term use of psychotropic medication (e.g. antidepressants, benzodiazepines) for various reasons including medication-related adverse effects. A key challenge in tapering psychotropics involves achieving required dose reductions using existing marketed products which typically come in tablet or liquid form. These products are licensed for treating the original condition (e.g. depression) with therapeutic doses and not specifically formulated to facilitate tapering, which can require subtherapeutic doses. Increasingly, patients are resorting to the internet for guidance and, using DIY (‘do-it-yourself’) tapering approaches by making modifications to products (e.g. splitting tablets, diluting liquids) at home. However, it is not known whether these approaches allow safe and accurate dosing to facilitate psychotropic tapering. This PhD project aims to evaluate the ramifications of different ‘DIY’ manipulations to pharmaceutical dosage forms used in psychotropic tapering plans. This will involve assessing different manipulations to psychotropic dosage forms in terms of: (1) dosing variability; (2) formulation particle size distribution and stability; (3) the withdrawal response using animal models. Project findings will provide vital information to inform the deprescribing of long-term psychotropic use through safe and gradual dosage reduction, as well as future research into novel formulations for optimising tapering.

 

Links

Panoz Pharmaceutical Innovation PhD Scholarships

The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Trinity College Dublin

https://pharmacy.tcd.ie/research/Panoz_PhD.php

 

The SAFEGUARDING-Psychotropic Use Project: Supporting sAFE and GradUAL reDuction of loNG-term Psychotropic Use

https://pharmacy.tcd.ie/assets/docs_open/Panoz%20Pharmaceutical%20Innovation%20PhD%20Schols%202022.pdf

(Scroll to page 11 to view scholarship candidate requirements and application information.)

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Wow! Finally someone doing some research into this.  Hopefully something will come of it and there will be knowledge and guidelines on how to facilitate safe tapers.

 

Thanks for sharing, Libertas

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I share your hope, 2catsintheyard.  As you know full well, individuals who wish to discontinue benzodiazepines face many challenges.  One of the most vexing is the lack of proven-to-be-safe-and-effective drug dosage forms that allow individuals to make accurate, ‘small enough’ and ‘gradual enough’  reductions in dose to keep withdrawal symptoms tolerable.  This research project is a significant step forward toward addressing this challenge.
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Yes that is the huge issue! I’m tapering Ativan as you can see, and having such issues with dry cutting and weighing.  It’s just ridiculous that we have to resort to such inaccurate methods just to safely discontinue these medications. 

Hope there is progress in this area for all of us and others in the near future.

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This is exciting and the exact kind of work we need. I have nothing but total respect for Dr. Cathal Cadogan. I'm going to share it with our network. Thank you so much for posting it!
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Researchers at The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity College Dublin have received funding for “The SAFEGUARDING-Psychotropic Use Project: Supporting sAFE and GradUAL reDuction of loNG-term Psychotropic Use” (see Project Summary below). 

 

The project includes scholarships for qualified PhD candidates. If you (a) know of someone who might be interested in joining this much-needed research effort by applying for a scholarship and/or (b) are a member of social network that may include potential candidates, please share the information and links below.

 

The deadline for applications is July 14, 2022.  For queries about the project, please contact Dr. Cathal Cadogan (cathal.cadogan@tcd.ie), Principal Investigator.

 

Project Summary

There is a growing cohort of patients looking to discontinue long-term use of psychotropic medication (e.g. antidepressants, benzodiazepines) for various reasons including medication-related adverse effects. A key challenge in tapering psychotropics involves achieving required dose reductions using existing marketed products which typically come in tablet or liquid form. These products are licensed for treating the original condition (e.g. depression) with therapeutic doses and not specifically formulated to facilitate tapering, which can require subtherapeutic doses. Increasingly, patients are resorting to the internet for guidance and, using DIY (‘do-it-yourself’) tapering approaches by making modifications to products (e.g. splitting tablets, diluting liquids) at home. However, it is not known whether these approaches allow safe and accurate dosing to facilitate psychotropic tapering. This PhD project aims to evaluate the ramifications of different ‘DIY’ manipulations to pharmaceutical dosage forms used in psychotropic tapering plans. This will involve assessing different manipulations to psychotropic dosage forms in terms of: (1) dosing variability; (2) formulation particle size distribution and stability; (3) the withdrawal response using animal models. Project findings will provide vital information to inform the deprescribing of long-term psychotropic use through safe and gradual dosage reduction, as well as future research into novel formulations for optimising tapering.

 

Links

Panoz Pharmaceutical Innovation PhD Scholarships

The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Trinity College Dublin

https://pharmacy.tcd.ie/research/Panoz_PhD.php

 

The SAFEGUARDING-Psychotropic Use Project: Supporting sAFE and GradUAL reDuction of loNG-term Psychotropic Use

https://pharmacy.tcd.ie/assets/docs_open/Panoz%20Pharmaceutical%20Innovation%20PhD%20Schols%202022.pdf

(Scroll to page 11 to view scholarship candidate requirements and application information.)

Do they need subjects for research? Can I volunteer by reporting my story?

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Do they need subjects for research? Can I volunteer by reporting my story?

 

Thank you for offering to share your story, Nony.  That is very generous of you.

 

Per the Project Summary, my understanding is this research project does not involve the use of human subjects.  The researchers will be investigating do-it-yourself (DIY) approaches to modifying commercial dosage forms to achieve the ‘small enough’ dose reductions required for tapering. The goal is to evaluate whether such DIY manipulations (e.g. pill-splitting, diluting commercial liquids with water) allow safe and accurate dosing.

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This is exciting and the exact kind of work we need. I have nothing but total respect for Dr. Cathal Cadogan. I'm going to share it with our network. Thank you so much for posting it!

 

You are most welcome, MsAtomicBomb.  I agree with you that this type of research is both exciting and much needed.  I also share your high regard for Dr. Cathal Cadogan and his work to support individuals who wish to discontinue benzodiazepines.

 

Thank you so much for getting the word out to your network about the SAFEGUARDING Project in general and the associated scholarship opportunities in particular.  As you know, the deadline for the scholarship applications is fast approaching — July 14, 2022.

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  • 2 weeks later...

LAST CALL! July 14, 2022 is the deadline to apply for a research scholarship with the SAFEGUARDING Psychotropic Use Project: Supporting Safe and Gradual Reduction of Long-Term Psychotropic Use.

 

This project will address a question of great interest to members of the BenzoBuddies community:

 

Do DIY (do-it-yourself) approaches to titration allow safe and accurate dosing? (See Note below.)

 

If you (a) know of someone who might be interested in joining this much-needed research effort and/or (b) are a member of a social network that may include potential candidates (or individuals who may have a general interest in the project), please share the information and links included in the first post to this thread:

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=269263.0

 

Note: In the context of benzodiazepine discontinuation, titration means making ‘small enough’ reductions in dose on a ‘gradual enough’ schedule to keep withdrawal symptoms tolerable. Examples of DIY (do-it-yourself) approaches include pill-splitting/shaving/weighing, diluting commercially manufactured oral solutions, and making liquids using regular tablets/capsules as the source of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient.

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