Using LSD To Treat Anxiety Is Showing Some Encouraging Findings In A Clinical Trial

A new scientific publication recently came out in the Biological Psychiatry journal announcing that results of an ongoing Phase 2 study of LSD-assisted therapy for patients suffering from anxiety with or without life-threatening illnesses show encouraging drug effects.

The trial was led by the University Hospital Basel (UHB), a research collaborator of biotech psychedelics company MindMed MNMD currently developing proprietary LSD analogue MM-120 for the treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). 

The published results state that “LSD produced long-lasting and notable reductions of anxiety and comorbid depression symptoms up to 16 weeks,” which according to the company is consistent with the treatment’s previously reported positive results for anxiety disorders.

"These results are encouraging and supportive of our proprietary MM-120 product candidate in its potential to one day offer a therapeutic benefit for patients suffering from GAD after just a single-dose administration," said MindMed’s CEO and director Rob Barrow. 

The Phase 2b trial is currently dosing patients with a GAD diagnosis, while the company is also advancing in IP and proprietary technology protection. In fact, MindMed holds a multi-year exclusive research partnership with UHB in addition to exclusive worldwide rights to data, compounds and patent rights associated with UHB's research on LSD and other compounds. 

“Our exclusive rights to the data from this study through our strong and productive collaboration with the Liechti Lab at UHB only enhance our leading position in the development of MM-120. We continue to protect and build on this position by filing multiple layers of intellectual property applications and continue to retain clinical data, manufacturing rights to and know-how for our proprietary MM-120 product," Barrow further detailed.

More On MM-120 And The Clinical Trial

MindMed's lead drug candidate MM-12 is an optimized form of LSD D-Tartrate, separate from the free-base form of LSD.

The Phase 2b trial of a single administration of MM-120 in patients diagnosed with GAD is a multi-center, parallel, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-optimization study, expected to enroll 200 participants.

Its primary goal is to determine the reduction in anxiety symptoms four weeks after the drug’s administration, compared across the five treatment arms. Other key objectives, measured up to 12 weeks, include safety, tolerability and quality of life assessments.

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