In human history, there is a long tradition of psychedelic compounds’ medicinal use. For example, psilocybin has been used in traditional medicine and religious rites in ancient civilizations around the globe.
Apart from their medicinal use, psychedelics are also associated with recreational use. Say the word “psychedelic”, and an image of the Woodstock music festival during the summer of love, with hippies enjoying themselves while lost in a trance, springs to mind.
While the psychedelic of choice seems to change over the years (LSD, MDMA, Ketamine, etc., all going in and out of “fashion”), this image of psychedelics as recreational drugs has stuck around.
History of psychedelic drugs research. The back and forths.
In the 1950s, scientists conducted research into psychedelics and psychiatry. However, this research ended abruptly in the 1960s when the back then American government introduced prohibitive legislation.
During the ‘second wave’ of psychedelic research, psychedelic drugs gained more and more attention from pharma companies.
The research has shown a positive association between psychedelic drug use and mental health. The positive findings, initially spotted in 1950 by Busch and Johnson, were also confirmed by more recent analyses.
5 pharmaceutical companies investing in psychedelic medicine. Who is next?
The number of pharmaceutical companies investing in the discovery and development of psychedelics as treatments for mental health issues reflects the findings of the research mentioned above, along with other research findings.
In January 2022, Otsuka Pharmaceutical announced a collaboration with Mindset Pharma to support the development of psychedelic medicines. Mindset is a drug discovery and development company that “focuses on creating patentable next-generation pharma psychedelic medicines to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders with unmet medical needs”.
Atai Life Sciences is at various stages of research into compounds such as psilocybin, R-ketamine, an MDMA derivative, and ibogaine. These drugs are being tested for mental health issues such as treatment-resistant depression, opioid use disorder, and PTSD.
Cybin is looking into psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine (DMT) as a treatment for major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders.
Compass Pathways is also looking into using psilocybin therapy in the treatment of PTSD, treatment-resistant depression, and anorexia nervosa. This area of research is important, as anorexia nervosa carries the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric disorders and currently has no approved pharmacological treatment.
Psychedelics as medicine in different corners of the world. How close are we to approval?
While psychedelics are gaining acceptance socially and scientifically as a valuable therapeutic tool for treating mental health illnesses, there are still legal roadblocks ahead. In the UK, the active ingredient found in “magic mushrooms” – psilocybin, is still classified as having no medical value. This classification has resulted in researchers in the UK working with ketamine instead of psilocybin. The legal status of ketamine makes it easier to prescribe. In Canada, physicians face administrative barriers that also make access to these challenging.
Though these regulations will put an extra layer of bureaucracy, hampering the research and development process, we expect this to change as more data showing the benefits of psychedelics for mental health issues become available.
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