Although there are medications that can help people with OCD manage their symptoms, those that are currently available may take up to two to three months to begin working. Additionally, these rarely relieve 100% of patients’ symptoms.

Dr. Rodriguez and her team are investigating new medications that could begin working faster and relieve OCD symptoms more completely. In a prior pilot study of ketamine as a treatment for OCD, Dr. Rodriguez found that patients experienced immediate relief from symptoms after a single dose of ketamine, and that 50% reported the beneficial effects lasting one week or more. This grant funds a trial of an experimental drug called hydroxinorketamine (RR-HNK) that could potentially mimic the therapeutic effects of ketamine without side effects like nausea and disassociation. Insights gained from this project could help promote a potentially beneficial medication course for people with OCD who do not respond to available treatments.