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Aura claims patients responded well to the treatment, which is consistent with a raft of local and international research. The chain believes the closures had more to do with negative publicity surrounding their programs and links to the Advanced Medical Institute, a splashy erectile disfunction clinic which used to advertise with billboard slogans such as "BONK LONGER."Speaking to VICE, the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) stated the clinics were closed because of a lack of psychiatric support and the supply of contentious self-injecting packs, whereby patients were given ketamine and needles to administer themselves at home.Aura Medical Director Professor Graham Barrett resigned as part of the investigation, but defended the clinics. Speaking to Channel Ten he said, "Aura's not doing anything bad, there's nothing inherently bad about making money out of helping people."Professor Colleen Loo, a clinical psychiatrist from the University of NSW and the Black Dog Institute is one of the world's leading ketamine researchers. Over the past few years, she has run ketamine trials for depression at the Wesley Hospital in Sydney. Speaking with VICE, Professor Loo stated, "Ketamine has amazing potential and we have seen incredible promise. It's unlike any other treatment."That's not to say Loo supports Aura Medical's reportedly lax supervision standards. "There needs to be ongoing monitoring. Everybody's depression is different and it's about carefully conducting the treatment in a controlled environment, rather than letting patients take the dosages home and administer it themselves," she said.
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