The Psychedelic News Feed Archive
January 8, 2024 - February 4, 2024
This is an archived version of our Psychedelic News Feed. Receive a weekly digest to your inbox by joining our newsletter. ∎
January 29 - February 4, 2024
Pα+ INTERVIEW
Interview: Compass Pathways CEO Kabir Nath Discusses Commercialisation, ‘Psychological Support’ and Competitive Landscape (Jan 31) ↗ Psychedelic Alpha
YEAR IN REVIEW
Psychedelic Policy Reform & Legal Markets in 2023 (Jan 30) ↗ Psychedelic Alpha
As investors pile into psychedelics, idealism gives way to pharma economics (Feb 03) ↗ Independent
Call for submissions: Psychedelics in the treatment of eating disorders: A shot in the dark or good science (Jan 29) ↗ Journal of Eating Disorders
The ketamine economy: New mental health clinics are a ‘Wild West’ with few rules (Jan 30) ↗ NPR
Meet the Family Leading the Psychedelic Revolution (Feb 1) ↗ The Standard
History Rhymes with the Psychedelic Boom (Feb 1) ↗ Bill of Health
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
A Discussion with Ernesto Londoño, Author of “Trippy: The Peril and Promise of Medicinal Psychedelics” (Feb 01) ↗ Psychedelic Alpha
Introductory Editorial — Critical Psychedelic Studies: Correcting the Hype (Jan 29) ↗ Bill of Health
When will psychedelics be legal? (Jan 31) ↗ National Geographic
Psychedelics like MDMA in Australian psychiatrist’s tool kit (Jan 30) ↗ ABC (audio, 25 mins)
COLORADO UPDATES
Colorado Department of Revenue Natural Medicine Division Listening Sessions: Round 2 (Jan 30) ↗ Psychedelic Alpha X Vicente LLP
Study Finds Hundreds of Reddit Posts on “Trip-Killers” for Psychedelic Drugs (Jan 31) ↗ JAMA Medical News
These activists think psychedelics could save the planet (Feb 02) ↗ POLITICO
Filament Health Announces FDA Opening Of Investigational New Drug Application For Substance Use Disorders (Jan 31) ↗ Press Release
An ancient psychedelic for traumatic brain injury (Jan 29) ↗ Nature Medicine
Psychedelics are outperforming trauma researchers’ expectations. But why? (Jan 29) ↗ Vox
Psychedelics in the Clinical Setting: The Potential for Harm and the Promise of Healing (Jan 30) ↗ Bill of Health
Psychedelics supporters include some big names from Boston’s tech scene (Jan 29) ↗ Boston Globe
Magic mushroom therapy is booming in Jamaica (Feb 1) ↗ Al Jazeera
Psychedelics Coming into the Modern Age of Medicine (Feb 1) ↗ GEN
From magic mushrooms to ayahuasca—psychedelics are the new leadership retreat (Jan 30) ↗ Fortune
People use drugs like Xanax to halt a bad psychedelic trip — but “trip killers” also come with risks (Jan 30) ↗ Salon
Michael Buble reveals he was high on mushrooms as he selected players at the 2024 NHL All-Star Game (Feb 02) ↗ Daily Mail
January 22 - 28, 2024
BREAKING NEWS
European Union Grants €6.5M for Multi-Site Psilocybin Study in Palliative Patients (Jan 24) ↗ Psychedelic Alpha
The study, which will involve 100 patients with progressive diseases like COPD and MS, is expected to commence in January 2025.
GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Ensuring the Affordable Becomes Accessible – Lessons from Ketamine’s Antidepressant Development and a Vision for More Equitable Drug Development (Jan 25) ↗ Psychedelic Alpha
In this guest contribution, Dilara Bahceci, PhD, explores the confluence of economic, regulatory and research-related barriers that have conspired to effectively disincentivise the development of generic ketamine for depressive disorders.
2023 YEAR IN REVIEW
Psychedelics M&A and Partnerships in 2023 (Jan 22) ↗ Psychedelic Alpha
We review 2023’s mergers, acquisitions and partnerships in the psychedelics industry, including Otsuka’s purchase of Mindset Pharma and Cybin’s acquisition of Small Pharma.
Dell Medical School research lab testing psychedelics as potential treatment for mental illnesses (Jan 25) ↗ The Daily Texan
Health care roundtable: Canadian drug imports, focused ultrasound and psychedelics (Jan 27) ↗ WJCT News
When America First Dropped Acid (Jan 22) ↗ The New Yorker
Cybin Announces FDA Clearance to Initiate a Phase 2a Study of CYB004 in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (Jan 23) ↗ Press Release
Group approach may increase accessibility to psychedelic therapy (Jan 23) ↗ Australian National University
APPA’s Stephen Xenakis Discusses the Future of Psychedelic Therapy (Jan 20) ↗ Lucid News
The mechanistic divide in psychedelic neuroscience: An unbridgeable gap? (Jan 25) ↗ Neurotherapeutics
Psychedelic-Related Hospital Visits Surge 50%. Is Hallucinogen Hype to Blame? (Jan 24) ↗ The Messenger
AI Program Finds Thousands of Possible Psychedelics. Will They Lead to New Drugs? (Jan 23) ↗ Scientific American
Can you breathe your way to health, happiness and a psychedelic trip? (Jan 24) ↗ The Guardian
State plan to extend psychedelic mushroom study takes step forward in House (Jan 23) ↗ Cronkite News
Psilera Announces Lead Indication for PSIL-006: Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD) (Jan 23) ↗ Press Release
Inside New England’s Psychedelic Revolution (Jan 23) ↗ Boston magazine
Working together to advance the field of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy shows promise for treating major depression (Jan 24) ↗ OSU Wexner Medical Center
Medical professionals, first responders urge lawmakers to consider policy reforms on psychedelics (Jan 22) ↗ Nevada Current
Psychedelic Censorship: Let Mushroom Educators Have Their Say (Jan 26) ↗ Rolling Stone
TARA Mind Announces $8 Million in Seed Funding to Expand Affordable Access to Life-Changing Mental Health Therapeutics (Jan 23) ↗ Press Release
Why some Native Americans are concerned about medicinal and recreational use of peyote (Jan 24) ↗ Fronteras
Are Psychedelic Retreats The Future Of Wellness Travel? (Jan 28) ↗ Vogue
Kimbal Musk ‘felt the voice of God’ twice in his life: during a near-death experience and when taking ayahuasca (Jan 23) ↗ Business Insider
When America First Dropped Acid (Jan 22) ↗ The New Yorker
I Went On A Guided Mushroom Trip To Process My Divorce (Jan 25) ↗ Scary Mommy
Inside the Luxurious World of Illegal Magic Mushroom Chocolate (Jan 24) ↗ Bon Appétit
Humans of Banbury: Interview with Yuria Celidwen (Jan 25) ↗ Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
January 15 - 21, 2024
2023 YEAR IN REVIEW
Reflecting on Psychedelics in 2023 (Jan 16) ↗ Psychedelic Alpha
Josh shares his reflections on 2023 in psychedelics.
2023 YEAR IN REVIEW
Psychedelic Funding & Public Markets in 2023 (Jan 18) ↗ Psychedelic Alpha
We review funding across private and public psychedelics companies in 2023.
Pα+: Knowledge Gaps in Psychedelic Medicalisation, According to ECNP and Regulators (Jan 17) ↗ Psychedelic Alpha
Compass Pathways enters into research collaboration agreement with Hackensack Meridian Health to develop optimal clinical model for investigational COMP360 psilocybin treatment, if FDA-approved (Jan 16) ↗ Press Release
The news comes just two weeks after Compass announced a research collaboration with Greenbrook TMS. (See Bulletin 153.)
Could LSD Have Achieved World Peace? Ask Margaret Mead. (Jan 16) ↗ NYT
Psychedelic Pharmacists Association Is Working to Promote, Establish the Role of the Pharmacist in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (Jan 17) ↗ Pharmacy Times
Cary Grant, congresswoman were tripping on acid years before Timothy Leary’s hippies (Jan 15) ↗ New York Post
The safety of supported psilocybin use in Oregon (Jan 18) ↗ Nature Medicine
“We support the decriminalization of psychedelic use and the protection of Indigenous practices, but we believe that policies such as Oregon’s outpace evidence on psilocybin’s safety.”
Chronic Lower Back Pain Is Real. Can a Psychedelic Drug Come to Your Rescue? (Jan 18) ↗ UVAToday
A new therapy for Ukraine’s scarred soldiers: ketamine (Jan 15) ↗ The Economist
GH Research Announces Grant of European Patent Covering all Mebufotenin (5-MeO-DMT) and Mebufotenin Salt Products For Use in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder and Treatment-Resistant Depression (Jan 18) ↗ GH Research
These will be the biggest policy debates in 2024 (Jan 17) ↗ POLITICO
“Move over marijuana. Psychedelics are the new focus of drug policy changes, as mainstream interest in those substances continues to grow.”
Blake Mycoskie of Toms Shoes on Solving the U.S.’s Mental Health Crisis (Jan 15) ↗ Penta (Barron’s)
“My dream is that psychedelics will be legalized and available to all people who are suffering. To do this, we need not only these medicines becoming legal, but we need therapists trained to work with these medicines at scale.”
Numinus Wellness Inc. Announces First Quarter Fiscal 2024 Results (Jan 15) ↗ Press Release
The company has managed to reduce its cash burn rate to under $1m per month, as of October 2023, it announced.
Incannex Completes Dosing and Therapy in Phase 2 “PsiGAD” Clinical Trial Assessing Psilocybin-assisted Psychotherapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder; Data Analysis Commences (Jan 18) ↗ Press Release
Topline results are expected this quarter.
In Oregon, some see the benefits of psychedelic treatment for mental health conditions (Jan 20) ↗ NPR
Colorado company developing potential prescription psilocybin product (Jan 20) ↗ FOX31 Denver
Sheppard Pratt Announces Dr. Matthew W. Johnson as Senior Researcher for the Center of Excellence for Psilocybin Research and Treatment (Jan 18) ↗ Sheppard Pratt
First MDMA prescription written in Australia (Jan 19) ↗ Ted Cassidy on LinkedIn
More coverage to follow.
A California panel is holding up studies on psychedelics. Some researchers want it gone (Jan 18) ↗ LA Times
The impasse, first reported in the newsletter Psychedelic Alpha, has deepened longtime frustrations among scientists who argue that even when the panel is meeting normally, it is an outdated and unnecessary entity that slows down vital research.
How treatment-resistant depression may be tackled using old ways – ECT and talk therapy – and new ones, such as psychedelics (Jan 16) ↗ SCMP
The future is psychedelic: Vail Health Innovation Center director’s research digs into psilocybin as a treatment for depression (Jan 15) ↗ Vail Daily
Indiana bill could fund research into psychedelic mushrooms as possible mental health aid (Jan 16) ↗ Courier & Press
Spain Busts Global Neo-shamanic Ring, Seizes Psychedelics (Jan 17) ↗ AFP (via Barron’s)
Older adults in psychedelic-assisted therapy trials: A systematic review (Jan 19) ↗ British Association for Psychopharmacology
Of the 1400 patients enrolled in the 36 studies, only 19 were identified as 65 or older, representing less than 1.4% of all trial participants.
Your employer may be adding another health benefit to its roster: psychedelic drugs (Jan 19) ↗ Fortune
NJ looks to make magic mushrooms legal for recreational use and to treat mental health (Jan 16) ↗ northjersey.com
January 8 - 14, 2024
2023 YEAR IN REVIEW
Our Top 10 Psychedelics Articles in 2023 ↗ Psychedelic Alpha
To kick off our 2023 Year in Review, I look back at some of our top articles and coverage from the year. – Josh Hardman
NEW Pα+ FEATURE
Pα+ Psychedelic Patent Analysis (November 2023) ↗ Psychedelic Alpha (Pα+)
Our monthly patent analysis now includes an interactive database of patents granted, allowed, abandoned, rejected and where responses were filed.
This month’s analysis dives into:
- Patent Filings Provide First Look at atai’s NCEs
- Stamets Stacks Up Two New Allowances
Maybe, just maybe, psychedelics are the “master key” for unlocking everything from blindness to stroke to anorexia (Jan 10) ↗ Vox
“It sounds too good to be true, but there’s serious science behind the hypothesis.”
Vox speaks to Gul Dolen.
Mind expanding: The uses of psychedelic drugs (Jan 12) ↗ Times Literary Supplement
This piece reviews four recent books on psychedelics: Ten Trips by Andy Mitchell, Psychedelics by David Nutt, I Feel Love by Rachel Nuwer, and Psychonauts by Mike Jay.
The Importance of Humor in Psychedelic Communication (Jan 11) ↗ Psychology Today
“There is no subject, even one as interesting as psychedelic science, that cannot be made boring by experts”, writes Sarah Rose Siskind.
“The whole point of psychedelic therapy is joy, so the communication surrounding it should not resist humor.”
Inside the “secular churches” that fill a need for some nonreligious Americans (Jan 11) ↗ CBS
“…there are a growing number of psychedelic churches, which cater to people looking to experience spirituality and ritual through drug use.”
Microdosing psychedelics and the risk of cardiac fibrosis and valvulopathy: Comparison to known cardiotoxins (Jan 12) ↗ Journal of Psychopharmacology
“Concerningly, both LSD and psilocybin share structural similarities with medications which raise the risk of cardiac fibrosis and valvulopathy when taken regularly, including methysergide, pergolide, and fenfluramine.”
For the love of: Psychedelic therapy (Jan 12) ↗ Positive.News
Margaret Mead wanted to save the world through LSD. The government had other ideas (Jan 12) ↗ LA Times
Anthropologist David Lipset interviews Benjamin Breen about his new book, Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science.
Psychedelic therapy may help break the chains of gambling addiction (Jan 11) ↗ Imperial College London
Net Zero Trauma: Investors in psychedelics aim to disrupt mental health economics – and outcomes (Jan 11) ↗ ImpactAlpha
Breathing Their Way to an Altered State (Jan 9) ↗ NYT
Natural Medicine Advisory Bulletin #7: December 2023 (Jan 10) ↗ Psychedelic Alpha X Vicente LLP
With several subcommittee cancellations and an abbreviated meeting of the full board in November, the Natural Medicine Advisory Board (NMAB) had quite a bit of ground to cover in December to meet their goal of submitting an annual progress report in early 2024.
Read Vicente’s latest update on the progress of the Board and its Subcommittee, including draft recommendations that could make it to the first round of rulemaking.
Exploring drug history: Term psychedelic coined in Saskatchewan (Jan 8) ↗ SASKTODAY.ca
MindMed Announces Business Update and Anticipated Milestones for 2024 (Jan 8) ↗ Press Release
Relatedly, BioSpace interviewed MindMed’s Dan Karlin: ↗ BioSpace
MindMed hopes to commence a Ph III program for its LSD candidate (MM-120) in Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) in H2 2024.
Magical Effects of Psychedelics Can Transform Psychiatry (Jan 9) ↗ الشرق الأوسط (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Can Psychedelics Without Hallucinations Improve Mental Health? (Jan 11) ↗ Futurity
Psychedelic Mushrooms Existed Millions of Years Before Humans, Largest-Ever Study Reveals (Jan 11) ↗ VICE
Knowledge gaps in psychedelic medicalisation: Clinical studies and regulatory aspects (Jan 11) ↗ Neuroscience Applied
This pre-proof, co-authored by European psychedelic researchers as well as European Medicines Agency representatives, outlines key knowledge gaps “that may be imperative for a successful implementation of psychedelic drugs as medicines”. It provides a summary of topics discussed at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology at the New Frontiers Meeting in Nice.
You can find our Dispatch on the event here.
Faith In The Psychedelic Renaissance (Jan 8) ↗ BBC Radio 4
BBC’s Beyond Belief show looks at “the potential and the dangers of the so-called psychedelic renaissance”, and its relation to spirituality.
Antidepressant-like effects of psychedelics in a chronic despair mouse model: is the 5-HT2A receptor the unique player? (Jan 11) ↗ Nature Neuropsychopharmacology
A group of researchers from University of Montpellier present findings from a study of DOI, psilocybin and lisuride in mice (including 5-HT2A knockout mice).
The authors conclude:
Collectively, these findings indicate that 5-HT2AR agonists can produce antidepressant-like effects independently of hallucinogenic properties through mechanisms involving or not involving the receptor.
They also conclude that their findings support the benefit of “sub-chronic microdosing” over single dose administration.
How MAPS PBC Became Lykos Therapeutics and Raised $100M (Jan 12) ↗ Lucid News
California judge rules against feds in psychedelic tea case (Jan 9) ↗ Courthouse News Service
“The federal government had filed a motion to dismiss the case filed against it by the Church of the Celestial Heart, which uses ayahuasca as a sacrament.”
Cybin Announces Positive Topline Data from Phase 1 Studies of Proprietary Deuterated DMT Molecules CYB004 and SPL028 (Jan 8) ↗ Press Release
An Untold Story of LSD Psychotherapy in Communist Czechoslovakia (Jan ’24) ↗ MIT Press
Lykos Therapeutics (Formerly MAPS PBC) Announces Publication Examining the Effects of MDMA-Assisted Therapy on Emotional Coping Skills and Self-Experience in PTSD (Jan 10) ↗ Press Release
The article is Open Access, published in PLOS One.
Psychoanalysis on Drugs: Wishing for the psychedelic renaissance (Jan ’24) ↗ Parapraxis
Fifth Michigan City Approves Local Psychedelics Decriminalization Resolution (Jan 11) ↗ Marijuana Moment
“On Tuesday, the Ypsilanti City Council took testimony from supporters and passed the psychedelics measure in an unanimous 6-0 vote.”
Psychedelics gave terminal patients relief from their intense anxiety (Jan 13) ↗ WSJ
California bill paves way for psychedelic therapy after failure to legalize ‘magic mushrooms’ (Jan 14) ↗ LA Times
Field trip: inside America’s first magic mushroom school (Jan 13) ↗ The Guardian
