Chronic Cluster Headaches, Next Target For This Non-Hallucinogenic Psychedelic

Lobe Sciences LOBEF, the psychedelics company performing drug R&D with sub-hallucinatory doses of psychedelics has signed a research agreement with headache medicine specialist Dr. Lauren R. Natbony, founder and CMO of Integrative Headache Medicine of New York, to assess the use of the company’s novel psilocin compound L-130 in patients suffering from cluster headaches.

Lobe’s chairman and CEO Philip J. Young said the investigator-initiated trial would be "an excellent opportunity to evaluate L-130's effect on the intensity, frequency and duration of this kind of headache, also called ‘suicide headaches’ due to the pain, frequency of attacks, and lack of effective treatments,” he explained. 

Young added that the partnership is viewed as greatly beneficial to the company given Dr. Natbony’s lengthy experience in the field and the fact that “cluster headaches is recognized as an Orphan Drug indication,” which Lobe would pursue should results be positive.

Dr. Natbony said that data reported in the literature supports the use of psilocybin in cluster headache patients. And, since L-130 is the active metabolite of psilocybin, “it appears to be an efficient way of delivering non-psychedelic doses of psilocin with potentially better bioavailability and consistency.”

See also: Why Magic Mushrooms Are Emerging As Major Part Of Public Discourse: What Science Is Saying

The study’s PI would first file a physician-initiated IND and, after getting FDA clearance, begin dosing cluster headache patients with the psychedelic to evaluate safety, tolerability and efficacy. 

How To Identify Cluster Headaches

Cluster headaches are a rare but severe primary headache disorder. They are characterized by intense, one-sided pain around the eye that usually causes restlessness and agitation, tearing, nasal congestion or droopy eyelids, among others. 

Attacks can happen up to eight times a day and last between 15 minutes and 3 hours. In its episodic form, cluster headaches occur in episodes lasting between 7 days and one year with pain-free periods lasting at least three months. 

The condition becomes chronic when attacks take place for over a year, either without interruption or with short intermissions (less than three months). As with every chronic condition, cluster headaches become more resistant to current pharmaceutical treatments. 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay