Ketamine has long been described as a purely synthetic molecule — first made in a lab in 1962 as a safer alternative to PCP. That turns out to be only part of the story .In 2020, researchers publishing in Parasites & Vectors isolated compounds from Pochonia chlamydosporia, a nematophagous soil fungus, and identified ketamine as a major constituent. They then tested it against several parasitic nematodes and found it performed comparably to established antiparasitic drugs, including ivermectin and albendazole.It’s a genuinely interesting finding.
A molecule we’ve used in operating rooms for six decades, and more recently in psychiatry, turns out to be something a fungus makes on its own — apparently as a defense against parasitic worms.Two things worth being clear about. This is one study, and it doesn’t change how ketamine is used clinically. And all pharmaceutical ketamine — including the Spravato® used in our practice — is synthesized in a laboratory under controlled conditions. The fungal finding is a scientific curiosity, not a source of medicine.