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October 19 – 25, 2026
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Read the PerspectiveA Note From the Editor
Much of our coverage this week has revolved around The Psychedelic Healthcare Forum that we co-hosted in New York City last Thursday. That includes my interview with HHS Deputy General Counsel Matt Zorn as well as a look at what representatives from FDA, VA, and ARPA-H shared on-stage.
Outside of our New York event, there have been several gatherings in Europe in recent weeks. One of those was the TAIP Conference in Tallinn, Estonia, where researchers, providers, policymakers, and others gathered to compare notes on various models of psychedelic access across the bloc. Ryan Khan was on-site for Psychedelic Alpha, and you can read his lengthy Dispatch now.
Elsewhere, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has announced that it will assess Compass Pathways’ psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression over the coming months. ICER is a nonprofit that reviews new healthcare interventions with an eye to cost-effectiveness, and is quite influential on the reimbursement front.
Compass’ psilocybin will be the second psychedelic therapy ICER will have assessed. In June 2024, it reviewed MDMA for PTSD and concluded that the available evidence was insufficient to determine benefit. Its scoping document for the Compass psilocybin assessment is open to public comment through November 10th.
Below, you will find your Psychedelic News Feed, a one-stop digest for the latest coverage of psychedelic business, policy, research and beyond.
Josh Hardman
Founder & Editor
October 12 – 18, 2026
We have had a very busy week in New York City, where on Thursday we co-hosted The Psychedelic Healthcare Forum.
That event saw federal officials, investors, drug developers, care delivery outfits, and others share their perspectives on the field as we approach the first potential approvals of psychedelics in the coming months.
For my part, I presented a State of the Industry and had two on-stage discussions: one with Matt Zorn, the lawyer who last year became a sort of ‘psychedelics czar’ when he joined the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and another with Carole Ho, who heads up Eli Lilly’s neuro division.
We will share insights from the Forum in the coming weeks.
In the brief moments of quiet over the past week or so I have been combing through the 609 submissions to FDA’s psychedelics-focused public comment docket. We will be sharing an overview in due course.
Below, you will find your Psychedelic News Feed, a one-stop digest for the latest coverage of psychedelic business, policy, research and beyond.
Josh Hardman
Founder & Editor
October 5 – 11, 2026
A Note From the Editor
It was another relatively quiet week in the psychedelics field.
On Monday, however, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a request for information (RFI) concerning early-stage ibogaine studies. In doing so, it also floated a potential trial design, telegraphing its thinking on key elements that it might expect to see in any investigational new drug applications.
At ARPA-H’s ASCENT-IBO Proposers’ Day last month, deputy director of FDA’s Division of Psychiatry Bernard Fischer told attendees that the agency was “thinking about how much information we need to put out there to proactively inform the field.” His comments were very well received then, and it appears that the agency has quickly delivered on that intention now. Investigators we spoke with welcomed the move. The RFI is open through November 20th.
Meanwhile, a National Institute of Mental Health grant opportunity that was expected to publish yesterday has yet to appear. The forecasted opportunity, Advancing Real-World Effectiveness Evidence for Rapid-Acting Psychotropic Interventional Drugs (RAPIDs), could provide up to $20 million in aggregate funding across three projects.
Just prior to this week, last Friday, New Mexico’s Department of Health held a public hearing related to its medical psilocybin program, which it hopes to implement by year-end. Key points of contention included a provision that requires landlord consent for psilocybin treatment to take place in a rented home, and a thirty-day window for the department to review patient applications.
I’m grateful for a quieter fortnight, as preparations for The Psychedelic Healthcare Forum in New York City enter their final stages. I hope to see many of you there this Thursday!
Below, you will find your Psychedelic News Feed, a one-stop digest for the latest coverage of psychedelic business, policy, research and beyond.
Josh Hardman
Founder & Editor
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