- There's been a recent resurgence of interest in psychedelic drugs' potential to address conditions like anxiety and depression.
- That research is beginning to lead to the development of new and novel drugs.
- Illicit drugs like mushrooms, ecstasy (MDMA), and ketamine are inspiring a range of potential treatments for diseases that currently lack good medications.
- Denver is set to become the first US city to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms, after voters there approved a measure to direct police to make enforcing laws against them a low priority.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Once portrayed as illegal ways to "drop out" or "tune in," psychedelic and semi-psychedelic drugs like psilocybin and ecstasy are finally starting to turn into federally-regulated medicines.
The tide began to turn over the summer, when a little-known startup backed by Silicon Valley tech mogul Peter Thiel churned out enough of the active ingredient in magic mushrooms to send 20,000 people on a psychedelic trip. It was part of a larger research effort by the company, called Compass Pathways, to study how psychedelic drugs could be used to treat depression.
It was only the beginning. In the fall, a German entrepreneur launched a new company called Atai Life Sciences with $25 million to back more studies that explore the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs on psychiatric disease. Weeks later, federal regulators deemed psilocybin worthy of "breakthrough status," a designation designed to speed the drug approval process for treatments that serve unmet needs.
MDMA, better known as ecstasy, nabbed that designation last year. Then in October, researchers published a new study that suggested MDMA could help people dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The medical promise of psychedelics also helped lead to the first succesful effort to remove criminal penalties for using some of the subtances. On May 7, voters in Denver approved a measure todecriminalize psychedelic mushrooms, according to unofficals results posted by the city. The measure makes enforcing laws against the mushrooms a low priority.
Prior to the recent wave of research, the study of psychedelic substances — many of which remain officially recognized as Schedule 1 drugs with no legal medical use — was nearly impossible. But in recent years, the efforts have begun to make headway.
The obvious psychedelic suspects aren't the only drugs in the realm that are turning into medicines. The first prescription drug made with marijuana, which many experts consider a psychedelic in high enough doses, was green-lit by U.S. federal regulators in June 2018.
A type of ecstasy might accelerate PTSD therapy
Researchers in October published the latest findings of a year-long study designed to assess if MDMA could play a role in treatment for PTSD. Their positive findings suggest that it could.
After the treatment, in which patients were given MDMA alongside traditional talk therapy and compared with a group that got the same treatment only using a placebo instead of the drug, some three-quarters of the participants no longer met the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis. In other words, their symptoms had resolved.
That's a significant result. One of the chief problems with current talk therapy is that even when patients are able to afford and access the treatment, they grow tired of the painful process of rehashing traumatic events and sometimes disappear for months on end, according to psychiatrist Julie Holland, who currently serves as a medical observer for the MDMA study.
Still, the treatment was tied to some unpleasant side effects including insomnia, tiredness, and headaches. The drug, which amps up the activity of chemical messengers involved in mood regulation, can be dangerous when used without medical supervision because it raises body temperature and blood pressure.
MDMA also recently received a key federal designation designed to hasten the research and approval process. Some experts believe the drug will be approved as early as 2021.
A compound in magic mushrooms is showing promise for anxiety
Researchers studying psilocybin, the main psychoactive ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms, have likened its quick effects on cancer patients to a "surgical intervention" for depression.
Brain scan studies suggest that depression ramps up the activity in brain circuits linked with negative emotions, and weakens the activity in circuits linked with positive ones. Psilocybin appears to restore balance to that system.
Two for-profit companies are currently leading the research in the space. The first, called Compass Pathways, is backed by entrepreneur Peter Thiel and has plans to start its own clinical trials of magic mushrooms for depression later this year.
The second, a biotech startup called Atai, is focused on financing more of the kind of research that Compass is doing. Atai has raisedfunds from investors like ex-hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz and Icelandic entrepreneur Thor Bjorgolfsson. In late March, the biotech said it raised another $43 million.
Some researchers have high hopes that a psilocybin-inspired drug will get approved within a decade. David Nutt, director of the neuropsychopharmacology unit at Imperial College London, told Business Insider last year that he believed psilocybin would become an "accepted treatment" for depression before 2027.
The first prescription drug made from marijuana won federal approval this summer
Called Epidiolex, the drug is designed to treat two rare forms of childhood epilepsy using a cannabis compound called cannabidiol (or CBD).
British-based GW Pharmaceuticals makes the drug. It does not contain THC, the well-known psychoactive component of marijuana responsible for the drug's characteristic high.
The federal thumbs-up comes on the heels of several months of promising research results and a positive preliminary vote from the Food and Drug Administration this spring. Experts are hopeful that the approval will unleash a wave of new interest in the potential medical applications of CBD and other marijuana compounds to treat other psychiatric and neurological diseases.
Ketamine is inspiring novel treatments for depression
A widely used anesthetic that is also known as a party drug, ketamine was shown to have benefits as a rapid-fire antidepressant nearly a decade ago. Early studies suggested ketamine could help people who failed to respond to existing medications or were suicidal.
The authors of one paper called ketamine "the most important discovery in half a century."
As opposed to existing antidepressants, ketamine acts on a brain mechanism that scientists have only recently begun to explore. Homing in on this channel appears to provide relief from depression that is better, arrives faster, and works in far more people than current drugs.
After a lack of new drugs for depression spurred scientists to go back to the drawing board, pharmaceutical companies like Allergan and Johnson & Johnson pursued new blockbuster depression drugs that take after ketamine.
J&J's drug, called Esketamine, won approval from US regulators in March to treat severe forms of depression that don't respond to other medications. The brand name of the drug is Spravato, and it's taken as a nasal spray.
Allergan's drug is in the last phase of clinical trials and has received a key FDA designation designed to speed it through the approval process.
Read more of our psychedelic medicine coverage:
- Why psychedelics like magic mushrooms kill the ego and fundamentally transform the brain
- The DEA's surprising shift on marijuana could keep a booming $1 billion industry in check, experts say
- Stanford researchers are learning how ketamine fights depression — and why the drug's called 'the most important discovery in half a century'
DON'T MISS: A new biotech company has raised $25 million to help unleash a 'virgin market' of psychedelic research
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