Insights

Read our independent data-driven reporting, analysis and commentary on the psychedelics space: from business and drug development through to policy reform and culture.

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The latest

Psychedelic Funding Update: Q1 2025

Q1 2025 saw roughly $350M flow into the psychedelics industry, the majority of which accrued to a trio of publicly-trader drug developers. Explore key trends, private vs. public dynamics, and what Compass Pathways’ upcoming Phase 3 results could mean for the remainder of 2025.

Hope, Hype, and Humility: Dr. Charles Raison Reflects on Psychedelics’, and Psychiatry’s, Wild Ride

Dr. Charles Raison has spent decades exploring how ancient practices like meditation, sauna, and psychedelics might interface with modern psychiatry. With roles spanning academia, clinical research, and biotech, he brings a rare perspective to the promises—and pitfalls—of emerging mental health treatments. Here, Psychedelic Alpha’s Josh Hardman sits down with Raison for a wide-ranging interview.

The VA, Psychedelics, and the Future of Mental Health: A Conversation with Shereef Elnahal, Former VA Under Secretary for Health

Dr. Shereef Elnahal, former VA Under Secretary for health, discusses how he came to champion psychedelic research within the VA, the promising data in conditions like PTSD and substance use disorders, and the institutional groundwork needed to support the potential roll-out of these therapies at scale. He also shares his opinions on the balancing act between medicalisation and advocacy, and what a coordinated federal approach to psychedelics might, or should, look like.

Pα+ Psychedelic Bulletin #193: VA Secretary on Psychedelics; Preprint Challenges Replicability of Psilocybin’s Persistent Effects in Mice; Market Mayhem and Agency Shake-Ups

‘Everything’s On the Table’: VA Secretary Signals Openness to Psychedelics, But Concrete Plans Lacking • Drug Developers Caught Between Tariff Talk, Agency Shake-Ups, and Market Mayhem • Multi-Lab Preprint Study Challenges Replicability of Psilocybin’s Persistent Effects in Mice • Kwan Lab Links 5-HT2A Receptors and Pyramidal Tract to Psilocybin’s Lasting Effects in Mice • FDA Clears Nation’s First Whole-Mushroom Psilocybin Study • Terran vs. Compass Lawsuit Moves Forward as Court Rejects Dismissal • and more…

Psychedelic Policy Update: Medical Access, Industry Influence, and Voter Suppression Shape 2025 Landscape

As New Mexico’s Medical Psilocybin Act Passes, Questions of Access, Provider Risk, and Industry Influence Loom • Arizona’s Oregon-Style Psilocybin Services Bill Gutted and Replaced by Compass Pathways’ Crystalline Polymorph Psilocybin Rescheduling Trigger Law • A Mixed Bag for Compass’ Other Trigger Law Bills • Idaho HJR 4 Passes, Preventing Voters from Legalising Psychoactive Drugs via Ballot Initiatives • Arizona Bill Carving Out $5M for Ibogaine Research Passes House, Working Way through Senate

The Library

Through our years of reporting we have covered many of the topics we believe to be important to the present and future of the psychedelics space, broadly defined. However, much of this commentary is scattered across Bulletins, deep dives, special reports and year-end reviews.

The Library provides digestible explainers on salient topics across psychedelic drug development, policy and business: from basic explainers such as “what is psychedelic-assisted therapy?” through to more complex matters such as REMS programs and bifurcated scheduling.

It’s exclusively available to our Pα+ subscribers, with new content added regularly.

Pα+ Library: Bifurcated Scheduling

Pα+ Library: we introduce some of the key concepts in the matter of bifurcated scheduling; a process by which an approved drug product may be placed in a different schedule to the substance itself. As we discuss in this piece, this could have significant repercussions for psychedelic research, legality, and even taxes.

Pα+ Library: Psychedelic REMS

Pα+ Library: we sketch out what a psychedelic REMS might look like, highlighting how these programs could have an outsized impact on the post-approval delivery and accessibility of these treatments.

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