Psychedelic drugs could have two distinct overlapping effects based on their affinity for two receptors involved in neuronal plasticity. Scientists at the University of Helsinki have observed that lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocin (a drug isolated from the mushroom Psilocybe mexicana) have an antidepressant effect that is independent of their hallucinogenic outcome. These two different pathways are established through their binding to the tyrosine kinase receptor (TrkB), which has an antidepressant nature, or to the serotonin receptor, with a hallucinogenic activity.
Incannex Healthcare Ltd. had quietly been developing its commercialization plans for psychedelic clinics well before Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration announced it would allow psilocybin and MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine) to be prescribed by authorized psychiatrists for treatment-resistant depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Beckley Psytech Ltd. is advancing lead BPL-003 psychedelic therapy on two fronts, opening phase IIa trials in alcohol use disorder and in treatment-resistant depression.
The steadily percolating psychedelic drug space stands poised to generate a near-term stream of potentially encouraging developments in a range of mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and more.
Beginning July 1, Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration will allow medicines containing the psychedelic substances psilocybin and MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine) to be prescribed by authorized psychiatrists for certain mental health conditions.
Compass Pathways plc is poised to start the first ever phase III trial of the psychedelic drug psilocybin, after getting U.S. FDA backing for a study in treatment-resistant depression.
Not long ago, people who touted the prospects of psychedelic drugs might have been accused of hallucinating, but in the U.S. and elsewhere the space has expanded in recent years, as mental health treatments remain “stuck where cancer was 50 years ago,” said Roth analyst Elemer Piros.
Drugs targeting receptors of the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine [5-HT]) are widely used in neuropsychiatry and some such agents, most notably psilocybin, have shown potential for further drug development, but hallucinogenic effects have limited their clinical use. The findings of a new multicenter Chinese structural pharmacology study may now provide a solid basis for the structure-based design of safe and nonhallucinogenic psychedelic analogues with therapeutic efficacy, the authors reported in the January 28, 2022, edition of Science.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) needs to stop ignoring the 2018 Right to Try Act and stop blocking terminally ill patients’ access to psilocybin, an investigational drug that may provide relief from debilitating anxiety and depression, a bipartisan group of House members said.
