Timothy Leary is dead, but he could be on the outside looking in with a smile on his face as U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest executive order (EO) fuels a surge in investment in companies researching and developing psychedelic drugs to treat mental health issues. The EO, Accelerating medical treatments for serious mental illness, is intended to address the increasing burden of suicide and serious mental illness, which impacts more than 14 million Americans.

Ignite Biomedical Inc. and Liquid Biosciences have announced the discovery of biomarkers to diagnose substance use disorder (SUD). The set of biomarkers includes some that have not previously been associated with addiction and spans all 6 SUDs (opioid, cocaine, methamphetamine, alcohol, nicotine and cannabis use disorders).

Amygdala Neurosciences Inc. has selected ANS-858 as its lead clinical candidate for substance use disorders, that includes alcohol and cocaine use disorders. The selective, reversible, orally bioavailable, small-molecule inhibitor of aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) is designed to reduce the rewarding effects associated with alcohol and other substances.

Clearmind Medicine Inc. has received approval from Israel’s Ministry of Health to initiate a phase I/IIa trial of CMND-100 oral capsules for alcohol use disorder (AUD). The multinational trial in healthy volunteers and AUD subjects will be conducted in Israel and the U.S.

Küleon LLC (formerly Psilosterics LLC) has announced a trifunctional serotonergic small molecule that is a full 5-HT2C receptor agonist and full antagonist of the 5-HT2A and 5-HT2B receptors with potential to treat neuropsychiatric disorders. Designated KB-128, it could be developed to treat disorders that can be modulated though 5-HT2C receptors, including schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s psychosis, depression, obesity and addiction.

Phoenix Pharmalabs Inc. has reported findings from in vivo studies that demonstrated that the company’s lead compound, PPL-138, reduced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and decreased alcohol consumption in a rat model of PTSD/alcohol use disorder (AUD). The studies were conducted at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and Florida Atlantic University under a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.

New treatment options are needed for the prevention of relapse to alcohol use, the major problem in the treatment of alcohol dependence in humans. The neuropeptide relaxin-3/RXFP3 plays a relevant role in the motivation for the reward process and is considered a possible therapeutic target in addictive behaviors.