Psychedelics Headlines: Dementia Prevention, Psychological Flexibility, Ancient Romans' Trips And More

Welcome to Benzinga's psychedelic headlines roundup. This is our pick of must-read news items from the first two weeks of April 2024.

See previous edition Psychedelics Headlines: A Form Of Life, Treating Chronic Pain, Microdosing And More

Research

• Psilocybin for dementia prevention? The potential role of psilocybin to alter mechanisms associated with major depression and neurodegenerative diseases (original read.)
• A pilot study of the effect of group-administered psilocybin on psychological flexibility and outcomes (original read.)
• The Promise of Therapeutic Psilocybin: An Evaluation of the 134 Clinical Trials, 54 Potential Indications, and 0 Marketing Approvals on ClinicalTrials.gov (original read.)
• Acute Adverse Effects of Therapeutic Doses of Psilocybin – A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (original read.)

Tune In, Get Smart

• What psychedelics legalization and decriminalization looks like around the world, by BBC's Jennifer Chesak.
• Global Perspectives on Psychedelics Regulation, by The Regulatory Review.
• Why Psychedelic Therapy Needs Specially Trained Therapists, by Psychology Today.
• Childhood trauma, challenging experiences, and post traumatic growth in ayahuasca use, research published in Drug Science.
• Psychedelic Church Sues for Defamation After Lab Test Raises Hope for Presence of Novel Drug, by Mattha Busby for DoubleBlind.
• William James was right about our strange inner experiences, writes renowned researcher David Yaden for Psyche.
• Psychedelic music depicted on ancient Peruvian rock art, by David Pescovitz for Boingboing.
• Ancient Romans Used to Trip on Hallucinogenic Seeds, Archeologists Say (DoubleBlind.)
• Indigenous ketamine therapy: 5 Questions for First Nations mental health leader Emmy Manson, by the Microdose.
• Measuring the ineffable: 5 Questions for mystical experience researcher Kurt Stocker, by The Microdose.
• Insurance Coverage for Psychedelic Therapy, by Vincent Joralemon for Harvard's Petrie Flom center.
• Magic mushrooms should be available on the NHS says Labour MP, story by The Telegraph.
• How Age Shapes the Psychedelic Experience, by The Chemical Collective.
• The Risks of Self-Medicating Alone with Psychedelics, by Sam Woolfe for Psychedelic Support.
• How Psychedelics Can Guide the Transformative Journey of Polyamory, by Chacruna Institute.
• How a Supreme Court Ruling Made Blotter Paper Beloved Among Acid Dealers Everywhere, by Mary Carreon for DoubleBlind.
• Psychedelic Theodicy: The Tendency to Deny and Downplay the Harms of Psychedelics, by Sam Woolfe.
• Business Trip's latest podcast episode "Comparing Psychedelic Compounds in Therapy" (Live Panel at Battery SF), with Nolan Williams, Allison Feduccia and Matt Baggot (listen.)
• "From post-Nazi Germany to America’s War on Drugs," a podcast conversation between Prof. David Nutt and author Norman Ohler (listen.)
• "Psychedelics and cult dynamics," a conversation conducted by researcher Jules Evans, will be online on April 17 (register.) 
• Psycon's 2024 edition will take place in Colorado from May 9-11 (info.)
• The 4th Annual Psychedelic Therapeutics and Drug Development Conference will take place in Boston on May 23-24 (info.)

Panorama Pulse

• MindMed MNMD has announced its voluntary delisting from Cboe Canada.
• FSD Pharma HUGE received a Nasdaq notification regarding minimum bid price deficiency.
• Psyence Biomed PBM has partnered with Fluence and iNGENū CRO to train research therapists for its Phase 2b psilocybin trial.
• Filament Health FLHLF reported its Q4 and year-end 2023 financial results and operational highlights.
• Awakn Life Sciences AWKNF announced the launch of a licensing partnership agreement with an Oklahoma-based clinic.
• PharmAla Biotech's MDXXF joint venture Cortexa has begun manufacturing GMP LaNeo MDMA in Australia.
• Optimi Health OPTHF received the finished product test results and certificate of analysis for its GMP natural psilocybin extract, and completed in-house production of MDMA Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API.)
• Red Light Holland TRUFF partnered with Prof. David Nutt and Drug Science to analyze its iMicroapp data and promote responsible regulations for psilocybin microdosing, launched its largest psilocybin shipment to Canada and closed its announced $750,000 convertible debenture unit offering,
• BetterLife Pharma BETRF announced the closing of $1.168 million convertible debentures to further advance IND-enabling studies of its non-hallucinogenic LSD-based drug candidate, BETR-001.
• Clearmind Medicine's CMND CEO has recently issued a letter to shareholders and subsequently announced the filing of a U.S. patent application for its psychedelic-based treatment for eating disorders.