80 Years Post-Discovery, LSD Shows Significant Potential For Major Depression In Advanced Clinical Trial

Psychedelics biopharma company Mind Medicine Inc.’s MNMD shared positive topline data from an advanced clinical trial evaluating its lysergide (aka LSD) for the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) on Friday — just a couple of days before the 80th anniversary of the discovery of LSD by Swiss doctor Albert Hofmann.

The double-blind Phase 2 study led by MindMed’s collaborators at University Hospital Basel (UHB) and the University Hospital of Psychiatry, Matthias Liechti and Felix Mueller, demonstrated “significant, rapid, durable and beneficial effects” on the mitigation of MDD symptoms.

Fifty-five participants were divided into two groups, receiving two doses of the psychedelic. The high dose arm received 100 micrograms first and 200 micrograms four weeks after, while the control group received 25 micrograms on both treatment days.

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Patients receiving the higher doses showed both statistically and clinically significant improvements (as compared to low-dose group) on the primary endpoint, which was the improvement in MDD symptoms six weeks after the first administration.

Specifically, patients from the high dose arm scored -12.9 points in the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS-C), as compared to -3.6 points by the other group, six weeks after the first administration (whether or not receiving the second dose.) 

That significant benefit was maintained up to 16 weeks post-first administration and results from secondary endpoints — including self-rated improvements in depression symptoms and anxiety- were also encouraging, with the psychedelic being generally well-tolerated.

MindMed holds exclusive access and rights to the data generated by the studies within the partnership.

MindMed CEO Robert Barrow said the results reinforce preliminary findings on the clinical potential of LSD in conditions like anxiety and depression, being “particularly relevant” to the company’s MM-120 program in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) “given the high degree of comorbidity of GAD and MDD.”

The study’s co-PI, Prof. Liechti, said that while historical studies of lysergide in MDD demonstrated rapid, robust and sustained improvement in depressive symptoms, the partners believed it was necessary to confirm those studies with ones using modern methods. 

“Hence, we designed this randomized-controlled trial to assess the benefits of lysergide treatment in MDD,” he stated, citing the importance of using an active small dose of LSD as the control and assuring that the lab will “continue investigating the therapeutic potential of lysergide and other psychedelics.”

Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by Bondar Pavel and See_more on Shutterstock.

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