Mindbloom Publishes First Peer-Reviewed Outcomes for At-Home Subcutaneous Ketamine in Depression, Anxiety, and PTSD

Mindbloom's subcutaneous outcomes at a glance

Across 3,041 patients in a peer-reviewed study, at-home subcutaneous ketamine produced clinically meaningful improvement in at least 80% of patients for every condition after a standard six-session course. Full results below.

Individual results may vary.

What is subcutaneous ketamine?

Subcutaneous (SC) ketamine is ketamine injected just under the skin with a small insulin needle. At Mindbloom, patients self-administer it at home under remote clinical supervision. It reaches high bioavailability of about 93%, which makes it a strong option for people who prefer an alternative to sublingual tablets or who have not responded to them.²

It is different from Spravato, an FDA-approved intranasal esketamine spray that legally requires in-clinic administration and monitoring. Subcutaneous ketamine at Mindbloom is taken at home, not in a clinic.

Why does this study matter?

This study matters because it shows that fast, effective mental health care may not require a clinic. The rapid-acting options with the biggest reputations, in-clinic IV ketamine and the FDA-approved nasal spray Spravato, are tied to a clinic, expensive, and logistically heavy, which puts them out of reach for many of the people who need them most.

Delivered under Mindbloom's supervised at-home protocol, subcutaneous ketamine produced outcomes across depression, anxiety, and PTSD that matched or exceeded those reported for clinic-based care, and came in above the rates reported for many first-line medications and therapies. It did so at a fraction of the cost and without a clinic visit. At 3,041 patients across 38 states, it is one of the largest real-world evidence bases for at-home ketamine to date, and the first peer-reviewed outcomes data specific to the subcutaneous route.¹

Why does the full protocol matter when comparing ketamine therapy outcomes?

Published ketamine outcomes belong to the specific protocol that produced them and do not transfer from one provider to another. Ketamine helps with depression, anxiety, and PTSD, but the size of the improvement, how long it lasts, and the safety profile all depend on the provider, the route of administration, and the protocol around the medicine. Two providers prescribing the same drug will not necessarily produce the same results.

Mindbloom's protocol combines its route of administration (sublingual tablets or subcutaneous injections), a required peer treatment monitor present for every session, and structured preparation and integration designed to use the neuroplastic window the medicine opens. That full protocol is one reason its outcomes are so strong, and it is why Mindbloom's peer-reviewed research reports results for its own protocol specifically rather than making a general claim about ketamine. This study is the first to report those outcomes for the subcutaneous route, extending Mindbloom's existing peer-reviewed record for the sublingual version of the same model.

How effective is Mindbloom's injectable ketamine for PTSD?

After a six-session course, 76.7% of patients responded to treatment and 56.7% reached remission. This is the first study to report peer-reviewed PTSD outcomes for at-home ketamine, which makes Mindbloom the only at-home provider with published data for the condition. Until now, peer-reviewed ketamine research for PTSD came only from small, in-clinic IV trials.

The full results after six sessions:

• 84.6% saw a clinically meaningful improvement (a reduction of at least 5 points on the PCL-5).
• 76.7% responded to treatment (a reduction of at least 10 points on the PCL-5).
• 56.7% reached remission (a reduction of at least 10 points combined with a final PCL-5 score below 33).

What this means for Mindbloom's subcutaneous PTSD outcomes:

• The 76.7% response rate is about 32% higher than the response rate reported for first-line SSRI antidepressants (the standard drug treatment for PTSD, such as sertraline) in a Cochrane review: 76.7% versus about 58%.³
• It is about 15% higher than the response rate reported in a leading in-clinic IV ketamine trial for PTSD (Feder et al.): 76.7% versus 67%.⁴
• It is higher than the 52% to 62% response reported for Prolonged Exposure, the gold-standard trauma therapy, and reached in roughly a quarter of the time: about six weeks versus 24.⁵

How effective is Mindbloom's injectable ketamine for depression?

After a six-session course, at-home subcutaneous ketamine reached the response and remission rates that in-clinic IV clinics report, without the clinic visit and at a fraction of the per-session cost. Depression is where Mindbloom's peer-reviewed track record began, and this study carries it to the injectable route.

The full results after six sessions:

• 81.8% saw a clinically meaningful improvement (a reduction of at least 4 points on the PHQ-9).
• 56.6% responded to treatment (a reduction of at least 50% on the PHQ-9).
• 27.7% reached remission (a final PHQ-9 score below 5).

What this means for Mindbloom's subcutaneous depression outcomes:

• The 27.7% remission rate is more than 50% higher than the rate reported in a real-world study of Spravato (Marci et al.): 27.7% versus 18.4%, reached in about a quarter of the time and without the in-clinic visit and two-hour monitoring that every Spravato dose requires.⁶
• The response and remission rates matched those reported in a large real-world study of in-clinic IV ketamine (McInnes et al.): 56.6% versus 53.6% response, and 27.7% versus 28.9% remission, at a fraction of the cost ($165 to $215 per dose versus $300 to $690 per in-clinic IV session).⁷
• Mindbloom uses racemic ketamine. In a meta-analysis of 24 randomized trials, racemic ketamine reported about 118% higher response and about 152% higher remission than esketamine, the active ingredient in Spravato.⁸

How effective is Mindbloom's injectable ketamine for anxiety?

After a six-session course, 60.6% of patients responded to treatment and 80% saw a clinically meaningful improvement. Anxiety is a blind spot in ketamine research, because in-clinic IV providers and Spravato programs generally do not report anxiety outcomes at all. Mindbloom does, and its combined studies now form the largest anxiety dataset in ketamine therapy.

The full results after six sessions:

• 80% saw a clinically meaningful improvement (a reduction of at least 4 points on the GAD-7).
• 60.6% responded to treatment (a reduction of at least 50% on the GAD-7).
• 29.6% reached remission (a final GAD-7 score below 5).

What this means for Mindbloom's subcutaneous anxiety outcomes:

• The 60.6% response rate is about 29% higher than the response rate reported in a review of CBT for generalized anxiety (Loerinc et al.): 60.6% versus about 47%, reached in roughly a third of the time, with far lower discontinuation (CBT trials report 15% to 24% dropout).⁹
• EMDR is not proven to help anxiety. A peer-reviewed trial found no benefit over placebo, and its authors concluded it should not be a first-line anxiety treatment.¹⁰
• Ketamine also offers an option alongside first-line anxiety medication (SSRIs), which roughly one in three patients do not respond to, and which nearly half stop taking within months.¹¹¹²

Is at-home subcutaneous ketamine safe?

In the study, side effects were infrequent and generally mild: 2.8% to 3.2% of patients reported any side effect at each check-in, and very few switched away from the injectable route.¹ Every session runs under a structured safety protocol, which includes clinician screening before each order, a required Peer Treatment Monitor present throughout, an at-home blood pressure check before dosing, self-administration training verified by a return demonstration, and on-call clinician support during treatment hours. Full safety information is available at mindbloom.com/safety-information.

How was the study conducted?

This real-world outcomes analysis followed 3,041 Mindbloom patients across 38 states who received subcutaneous ketamine therapy over a standard six-session course of about four to six weeks. Patients entered the study with at least moderate symptoms (a PHQ-9 or GAD-7 score of 10 or higher, or a PCL-5 score of 33 or higher). Outcomes were measured with validated clinical instruments: the PCL-5 for PTSD, the PHQ-9 for depression, and the GAD-7 for anxiety. The thresholds for clinically meaningful improvement, response, and remission are noted alongside each figure above. Symptom trajectories were analyzed with linear mixed-effects models and confirmed with sensitivity analyses. The study is published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (DOI: 10.2196/92647).¹

Off-Label Use Disclosure

Ketamine is FDA-approved only as an anesthetic. Use for mental health conditions represents off-label prescribing by licensed clinicians based on clinical judgment. Schedule III Controlled Substance - DEA regulations apply.