A growing number of companies have launched clinical trials for methyl​enedioxy​methamphetamine (MDMA) and its derivatives. The most recent is Atai Life Sciences, which saw its share price surge 7.71% in mid-day trading to $3.38 after announcing it had launched a Phase 1 study of an MDMA derivative, EMP-01. The study will focus on post-traumatic stress…

On the heels of launching a Phase 2b study of LSD in generalized anxiety disorder, MindMed (Nasdaq: MNMD) has dosed the first subject in a Phase 1 study evaluating MDMA-like substances in healthy volunteers.  MindMed is developing a synthetic enantiomer of MDMA as a potential treatment for core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Early…

A randomized placebo-controlled Phase 2 study found that lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)–assisted therapy yielded significant reductions in anxiety and depression symptoms for up to 16 weeks. The data from the study was recently published in the peer-reviewed Biological Psychiatry. Researchers at the University Hospital Basel (UHB) conducted the investigator-initiated study, which involved 42 patients. While…

Psychedelic medicine firm MindMed (Nasdaq: MNMD) has dosed the first patient in a Phase 2b dose-optimization trial of MM-120, a pharmaceutically optimized form of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). The study will test the potential of LSD to treat generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), which affects about 3% of the population. While LSD emerged as the definitive psychedelic…

While Big Pharma has yet to embrace psychedelics as potential treatments for depression and other psychiatric disorders, interest in psychedelic medicine is building.  Earlier this month, Nature Medicine published a Phase 3 study indicating that psychotherapy assisted with methyl​enedioxy​methamphetamine (MDMA) was a more effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than therapy alone. The study authors concluded…