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March 9 – 15, 2026
A Note from the Editor
As you may have noticed, weâre celebrating six years of Psychedelic Alpha with a brand new website and look. As part of that revamp, emails are looking slightly different, too, including your weekly Psychedelic News Feed. Rest assured, the format remains the same: a weekly digest of psychedelics-related coverage from around the world.
At the start of this week, we reported on talks that AtaiBeckley is in with potential pharma partners and royalty investors. Those discussions revolve around its lead candidate, intranasal 5-MeO-DMT (BPL-003) for treatment-resistant depression, which is expected to enter Phase 3 in the second quarter. Sources close to the company told us that it does not intend to sell the asset outright, and hopes to use any fresh capital to explore the drug in other conditions, as well as to progress other candidates in its pipeline.
Later in the week, our 221st Psychedelic Bulletin took a closer look at recent readouts and publications, including Johnson et al.âs psilocybin vs. nicotine patch for smoking cessation study, which published this week. It reports that, at the 6-month follow-up, 40.5% (n=17/42) of those in the psilocybin group achieved prolonged abstinence versus 10% (n=4/40) in the nicotine patch arm.
Elsewhere, UW-Madisonâs School of Pharmacy announced a new professorship in psychedelic science, which it describes as âthe second of its kind in the United States and the first in a pharmacy school.â Professor Paul Hutson, who led the first Phase I psilocybin trial in the country, is the inaugural recipient.
Below, you will find your Psychedelic News Feed, a one-stop digest for the latest coverage of psychedelics business, policy, research and beyond.
Josh Hardman
Founder & Editor
March 2 – 8, 2026
A Note from the Editor
There are now around one-hundred psychedelics-related bills in-flight across the U.S., at the state and federal level. Many are making slow progress through their respective legislatures, but others have begun to pass chambers and make it to the desks of Governors. This week, we shared our February 2026 roundup, which provides a one-stop view of new bills introduced last month as well as those that have made substantial progress.
Elsewhere, Bloomberg reported yesterday that AtaiBeckley is exploring partnership or sale options for BPL-003 (intranasal 5-MeO-DMT), its lead candidate that is currently under development for treatment-resistant depression. We will be sharing more on this front next week.
For my part, I have been in New York, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., this past week, speaking with psychedelic researchers, investors, drug developers, and regulators. Keep an eye out for our next Bulletin to read what I gleaned on this trip.
Below, you will find your Psychedelic News Feed, a one-stop digest for the latest coverage of psychedelics business, policy, research and beyond.
Josh Hardman
Founder & Editor
February 23 – March 1, 2026
A Note from the Editor
I had a great time in New Orleans this week, where I delivered a âState of the Psychedelic Industryâ at the Psychedelic Therapeutics and Drug Development Conference and participated in a panel on âpsychedelic innovationâ at the New Orleans BioInnovation Center.
Iâm now in Austin, Texas, where U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary RFK Jr. appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience for a two-and-a-half-hour discussion that included around ten minutes on the topic of psychedelics.
âI would say everyone at my agency, as well as over at VA, at Doug Collinsâ agency, is very anxious to get a rule out there that will allow these kinds of studies, will allow access in therapeutic settings,â he told Rogan. But Kennedy was broadly noncommittal when discussing how access to psychedelics might manifest in the U.S. medical system.
The Secretary emphasised a need for guidelines to prevent a âWild Westâ that could result in âhorror storiesâ. âSome people can have very, very bad experiences on [psychedelics]â, he told Rogan. âWe need to move in baby steps with this, because you donât wanna create a situation where people are getting hurtâ, he went on.
He also reiterated his personal interest in the class of drugs, including ibogaine. âI have seen so much overwhelming anecdotal evidence, but also clinical studies, that attest to the effect of this under some circumstances with some people for these medicinesâ, he told Rogan.
The comments come around eight months after RFK Jr. told Congress that the administration was working to ensure access to psychedelics within a year, though the Secretary appears more restrained than when he made that vow. A more detailed write-up of RFK Jr.âs comments will appear in our next Bulletin.
Elsewhere this week, AtaiBeckley shared a topline readout from its Phase 2a R-MDMA (EMP-01) for social anxiety disorder trial. While the company described the readout as positive, pointing to safety and tolerability findings, shares in the company dropped on the news. Future development plans for the candidate are unclear at present.
Also on the psychedelic drug development front, Reunion Neuroscience shared that FDA has granted its lead candidate, RE104 (4-HO-DiPT), breakthrough therapy designation for postpartum depression.
Here at Psychedelic Alpha, we covered further news stories from the past week in Bulletin 220, including new survey data from RAND that found Americans are divided on psychedelics policy, with 23% open to psilocybin use being legalised.
We also published a discussion I had with Yaleâs Dr. Terence Ching about learnings from Yaleâs psilocybin for OCD trials.
Iâm now heading to New York and Washington, D.C.
Below, you will find your Psychedelic News Feed, a one-stop digest for the latest coverage of psychedelics business, policy, research and beyond.
Josh Hardman
Founder & Editor
Psychedelic Bulletin 220
Psychedelic Alpha â
- Policy Round-Up: State Momentum, Congressional Signals, and Coloradoâs Data Build-Out
- RAND Survey: Americans Divided on Psilocybin Legalisation
- New Publications: DMT, Methylone, and Germanyâs State-Funded Psilocybin Trial
- Latest Data from Australia Reports 188 Patients Treated
- FDAâs âOne Pivotal Trialâ Default
- and more…
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