🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that loves being proven wrong. If with all this neuroplasticity, we still couldn’t change our minds, shoot… We’d be cooked. ☠️

Here’s what we got this week.

• SSRIs and psychedelics: problem solved? 💊

• Lykos gets an unexpected lifeline 🛟

• Shelf-stable LSD microdoses are coming 🩸

• The Olympics for shrooms 🏆

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MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

Ooo, pretty colors: More aesthetic psychedelic experiences seem to produce greater insights and psychological benefits.
Dirty drugs: Less than half of MDMA samples tested since 1999 were chemically pure. A study found almost 200 different adulterants.
No opioids, no problem: MIRA Pharmaceuticals’ ketamine analog beat FDA-approved pain meds in preclinical studies.
Head twitch: Could psilocybin work for OCD and Tourette’s Syndrome?
Roll on: A Canadian hospital is launching a first-of-its-kind trial to test MDMA for chronic nerve pain.

🏛️ Policy

Is there a doctor in the house? Medical professionals are invited to sign this support letter for Question 4, which would legalize psychedelic therapy in Massachusetts.
Mass movement: Northampton is the fifth city in MA to pass a resolution supporting Question 4.
No man’s land: Psychedelic-assisted therapy is already legal and covered by public insurance in Quebec. Problem is, there are no certifications for providers.
Meanwhile in Quebec: A mushroom church says Health Canada is stalling on its decision to grant an exemption from the Controlled Substances Act.
Thought experiment: What would it look like if the psychedelics industry were nationalized for the public good?

📈 Business

A glut of guides: One of Oregon’s psilocybin training programs has stopped enrolling students because there are too many underemployed facilitators as it is.
Mind over (composition of) matter: Cybin secured a patent for its phenethylamines program.
Passing the baton: Optimi Health’s CEO has stepped down for personal reasons.
Breaking good: Tessara Therapeutics, Psylo, and the University of Sydney received a $3 million grant to develop neuroplastogens for meth addiction.
They noticed: WSJ says Spravato, J&J’s ketamine nasal spray, is “taking off.”

🫠 Just for fun

Alient ant farm: Ants first started cultivating fungi when the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs struck Earth.
Fare thee well: Phil Lesh, bassist of the Grateful Dead, has passed away.
Hallucinarium: What happens when the most renowned psychedelic artists in the world throw a party in Ibiza?
Meme of the week: What the mushrooms growing in my closet see…

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

The antidepressant paradox

Psychedelics have a mean chicken-and-egg problem:

First, you have to get off your antidepressants to try the thing that could help you *checks notes* get off your antidepressants. Make it make sense.

Well, Compass Pathways just did. Turns out, taking people off SSRIs before psilocybin therapy isn’t as big a deal as everyone thought.

The data comes from Compass’s massive Phase 2b trial, where two-thirds of participants had to ditch their pills before getting dosed. Here's what they found when comparing these folks to the medication-free group:

• 🧠 No mood crash: Depression scores didn't get worse during the antidepressant washout period. (Guess those meds weren't doing much anyway. Awkward.)

• 🍄 Full trip: Recent antidepressant use didn't weaken the psychedelic experience at the 25mg dose. (They still had a full-blown journey.)

• 😌 Same benefits: Both groups saw similar improvements in depression at one month. (Anyone can heal.)

• 🔄 Boomerang effect: However, people who quit their meds were twice as likely to be back on antidepressants within 12 weeks, compared to those who started the trial med-free. (Old habits die hard?)

The whole "antidepressants block psychedelics" theory has been driving trial design for years. It's why most studies make participants suffer through weeks of medication withdrawal first. But if Compass is right, we’ve been making things needlessly complicated.

To be fair, at lower doses (10mg of psilocybin), the antidepressant-free group did have slightly better outcomes. So while mixing SSRIs and psychedelics might not be a total non-starter, a clean slate could give you better bang for your buck.

Either way, Cyclists, this is good news for the future of psychedelic therapy. Because let's be honest—making depressed people quit their meds cold turkey was never going to be easy.

Then again, a life-changing psilocybin trip isn’t exactly a cakewalk either. 🫠

AFTERGLOW

The feds might save MDMA… from the feds

When one arm of the federal government closes a door, another opens a window. Back in August, the FDA rejected Lykos Therapeutics' MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. But now the Department of Veterans Affairs is hinting they might help fund the additional Phase 3 study the FDA is demanding. Checks and balances at work, people.

The timing couldn't be better for Lykos. They've already laid off 75% of their staff, lost their leadership team, and are staring down the barrel of another expensive trial. Now the VA isn't just any potential partner—they're the largest healthcare system in America, serving a population that's desperately seeking new PTSD treatments. In fact, the VA just started funding psychedelic research for the first time since the 1960s.

You know, this bureaucratic tug-of-war just might work in patients' favor. With the VA's deep pockets and even deeper patient pool, Lykos would have a real shot at getting this over the finish line. After all, if there's one group that can convince the FDA to take another look at psychedelic therapy, it's America's veterans. Have we thanked you for your service lately?

Someone gets it

Finally, a pharma company that has the slightest clue how most people are using psychedelics today. While everyone else is building fancy clinics and training specialized (read: expensive) therapists, MindBio Therapeutics is developing take-home LSD microdoses that are stable for 12 months at room temperature. Let people store medicine in their medicine cabinet. It’s a revolutionary idea, we know.

Their approach seems to be working. In their latest Phase 2a trial, patients saw a 72% drop in depression symptoms, with 58% achieving complete remission—even six months after stopping treatment. They also reported better sleep, less irritability, and more happiness. These aren’t the results of a profound psychedelic experience, mind you. These people are taking sub-hallucinogenic doses at home and going about their day.

Meanwhile, MindBio's pushing ahead with two Phase 2b trials: one for cancer patients dealing with existential distress (halfway done) and another for major depression. The company’s cash may be tight—they just announced a $200k raise—but they've got the most advanced take-home psychedelic program on the Canadian markets. Not bad for a company trading at 3 cents a share.

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UNTIL NEXT TIME

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. The use, possession, and distribution of psychedelic drugs are illegal in most countries and may result in criminal prosecution.