Regulatory update
Medsafe approval granted to Dr Tom Paterson for MDMA-assisted treatment of PTSD
A dated record of the practitioner- and programme-specific approval announced by the Ministry of Health.
By Braided Clinic · Clinically reviewed by Dr Tom Paterson ·
A narrow, clinically governed approval
On 4 September 2026, New Zealand’s Ministry of Health announced that Medsafe had granted two psychiatrists approval to prescribe pharmaceutical-grade MDMA as part of a treatment programme for eligible adults with PTSD. Auckland psychiatrist Dr Tom Paterson, founder and lead clinician of Braided Clinic, is one of those two psychiatrists.
The approval follows a practitioner- and programme-specific application. It permits care only within the conditions of that approval and does not establish general access to MDMA or prescribing by clinicians outside the approved pathway.
Read the Ministry of Health announcementSource and independent reporting
The Ministry announcement sets out the approval and its safeguards. Independent reporting by RNZ, republished by the Otago Daily Times, and Euronews identifies Dr Paterson as the Auckland psychiatrist granted one of the two approvals.