Aus - Controversial ketamine clinic linked to sex treatment company as

[poledriver]

Controversial ketamine clinic linked to sex treatment company as medical board launches investigation

The clinic has supplied ketamine in vials labelled AMI Direct and bearing the ACP name and phone numbers.

Australia's health watchdog has launched a national investigation into a chain of commercial clinics selling the drug ketamine as a treatment for depression.

The Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) inquiry comes after the ABC revealed Aura Medical was offering take-home packages of syringes containing the highly restricted drug to depressed patients.

Aura Medical began spruiking the treatment direct to the public through TV and radio advertisements featuring 1980s soap star Rowena Wallace last year.

It charges over $1,000 for a course of eight ketamine injections.

Ketamine has not been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for use as a depression treatment, despite promising clinical trials showing positive short-term effects. It is used in Australia as an anaesthetic and pain killer.

Psychiatrists have warned it is only a short-term solution, and the long-term safety of regular ketamine use has not been established.

An ABC investigation has uncovered significant links between Aura Medical and controversial erectile dysfunction company Advanced Medical Institute (AMI), along with evidence patients as young as 16 are being sold ketamine at the clinics.

Commercial ketamine clinics have sprung up across Australia and the United States in recent years, with one US medical expert describing the lack of regulation as "the Wild West of ketamine".
Doctors working for Aura Medical are legally able to offer ketamine in a practice known as off-label prescribing because the drug has been approved for use as an anaesthetic.

AHPRA is now investigating the operations of the commercial ketamine clinics and the consulting doctors working there.

Aura Medical director linked to Advanced Medical Institute

The ABC can reveal Aura Medical's director Dvora Samuel, also known as Debbie Samuel, is a long-time business associate of AMI founder Jack Vaisman and a former director of NRM Corporation, which owns AMI.

AMI, parent company NRM and AMI boss Mr Vaisman were found to have engaged in unconscionable conduct and high-pressure selling techniques while supplying sexual dysfunction medications and medical services by the Federal Court last month.

They have announced their intention to appeal the decision.

Ms Samuel, who works at Aura Medical's Sydney office, took over the NRM directorship from Mr Vaisman for several months in 2011 after the ACCC launched legal action against NRM and AMI.

Aura Medical offers ketamine injections from rooms inside the AMI erectile dysfunction clinic buildings in Sydney and Brisbane and out of a general practitioner clinic chain owned by Mr Vaisman's nephew Joe Vaisman in Melbourne.

Aura Medical's Melbourne manager Eduard Stolyarsky was also listed as the director and executive director of NRM Corporation under president, chief executive and founder Jack Vaisman on their corporate website.

The website has now been deleted.

Mr Stolyarsky, who has said he has a degree in sexology, has been involved in numerous other erectile dysfunction businesses linked to AMI and NRM Corporation including On Clinic and Impotency Anonymous.

He is also the director of a company owned by AMI which developed a "ultrasonic nebuliser" to deliver erectile dysfunction medication.

In response, Aura Medical said in a statement: "We are not aware of all these [sic] information and he is not a managing director of Aura Medical."

"There is no connection between Aura and NRM corporation.

Company documents show Aura Medical's former director was Michael John Tattersall, who works at Australian Custom Pharmaceuticals (ACP).

ACP is a compounding pharmacy which supplies erectile dysfunction treatments to AMI.

It also supplies the ketamine to Aura Medical in vials labelled AMI Direct and bearing the ACP name and phone numbers.

In a statement Aura Medical said the AMI Direct labelling was a "clerical error at pharmacy end, we are investigating internally".

Aura Medical also said neither Jack Vaisman or his nephew received any financial benefits from Aura Medical.

Teenagers being prescribed ketamine

Doctors working for Aura Medical have been accused of not assessing patients thoroughly, not making it clear ketamine is not an approved depression treatment, and not offering alternative treatments or support.
But one mother who has spent more than $6,000 on ketamine injections for her depressed 16-year-old daughter at Aura Medical's Sydney clinic said despite concerns about the company, the results were worth the risk.

What is ketamine?

A Schedule 8 prescription drug
Used in Australia as an anaesthetic and pain killer
Used illegally as a party drug for its dissociative effects
Ketamine has shown positive short-term impacts on depression
It is not approved by the TGA for treatment of depression
Can cause bladder and liver damage in large doses
"I knew that Aura Medical had had a lot to do with the impotency drugs," she said.

"I probably knew that they weren't the most rigorous, strictly by-the-book medical company.

"But I also knew that I was so grateful that they were actually willing t

Cont -

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-...linic-linked-to-sex-treatment-company/6547970

 

['medicine cabinet']

1k for treatment? A vial is like 5 bux, least the stuff I've ordered from shady ppl in pk. So are they just operating like oh well we k ow its illegal, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.


There isn't enough research to say its a magic bullet, it shows high pro.ise but you can't forget about the long term effect. Bladder damage sounds horrible.

 

[Crankinit]

Yeah putting aside the financial/legal issues, the effect seems to last somewhere from 3 weeks - 3 months, so repeated, long term treatment could potentially cause damage, depending on the doses they're using (I've heard 0.5mg/kg infusion was used in one study, which is odd, since that's a pretty recreational dose unless the infusion is over several hours - would have expected them to go for something either sub-psychoactive or high enough to black the individual out completely). I've known a number of heavy recreational users who've had serious urinary tract damage, ranging from kidney pain to bladder reconstruction surgery.

Hope this kind of BS is put down quickly before exploration of the therapeutic effect of hallucinogens/empathogens is smeared all over again.

 

[rujex]

Yeah putting aside the financial/legal issues, the effect seems to last somewhere from 3 weeks - 3 months, so repeated, long term treatment could potentially cause damage, depending on the doses they're using (I've heard 0.5mg/kg infusion was used in one study, which is odd, since that's a pretty recreational dose unless the infusion is over several hours - would have expected them to go for something either sub-psychoactive or high enough to black the individual out completely).

Guess that's the big problem that the medical community has: drugs are not supposed to be fun.

They are so a freight about potential missus that they will hesitate to give a proper positive recommendation. Disregarding that most people probably wont like the effects for recreation anyway.

 

[Crankinit]

Yeah K is a bit of an acquired taste, I still remember the look of shock I got from my doctor when I told I injected the stuff for fun apparently she'd been given it once in a medical setting and found the experience terrifying.

That said, it can also be addictive and incredibly fiendish. For someone who's depressed, I'd imagine the warm floaty black void of a k-hole could offer a pretty decent escape.