Psychedelics Headlines: Trauma-Informed Care, Valentine's Day & MDMA, Academics On Drugs And More

Welcome to Benzinga's psychedelics headlines roundup. This is our pick of must-read news items concerning the last few days of January and the first two weeks of February 2024.

See previous edition: Anti-inflammatory Effects, Global Drug Survey, ‘Synthetic Surprise,’ UK’s Harm Reduction Hub And More 

Research

• Comparative Review On Efficacy, Safety, Pharmacokinetics and Binding Profile of Serotonergic Psychedelics by MindMed's MNMD Swiss research collaborators (read.)
• Trauma-Informed Care in Psychedelic Therapy Research: A Qualitative Literature Review of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy Interventions in PTSD and Psychedelic Therapy Across Conditions (read.)
• Indigenous psilocybin mushroom practices: An annotated bibliography (read.)

Tune In, & Get Smart

• Feb. 14 online event "Exploring MDMA on Valentine’s Day: Unveiling the Science Behind the ‘Love Drug’" led by Tactogen's CEO Matt Baggott (register.)
• Feb. 15 event in NYC: "Inside the Emerging Psychedelic Underground in China" (learn more.)
• Evgeny Lebedev, owner of Independent & Evening Standard newspaper, shared his first ayahuasca experience with Prof. David Nutt (listen.)
• The Standard interviewed "the family leading the psychedelic revolution," Amanda Feilding and Cosmo Feilding-Mellen (read.)
• "When will psychedelics be legal?," a NatGeo review (read.)
• "FDA Scientist Warns Psychedelic Trials Suffer a ‘Nocebo Effect'," by Bloomberg (read.)
• "Unwanted personality changes after psychedelics," by Jules Evans (read.)
• "Eight Frequently Asked Questions About Ayahuasca Globalization," written by Chacruna Institute's Bia Labate and others, and published in the MAPS Bulletin (read.)
• "These Academics Went Public About Using Drugs," a Vice mag piece (read.)
• An overview of John Cunningham Lilly's path, researcher and psychonaut both "dismissed as a madman and revered as a genius" by DoubleBlind (read.)
• "Why You Should Seek More Awe in the New Year" by Tim Ferris, featuring psychedelic research (read.)
• "Psychedelics in the Clinical Setting: The Potential for Harm and the Promise of Healing" by Harvard's Petrie Flom Center (read.)
• "History Rhymes with the Psychedelic Boom" by psychedelics historian David Herzberg (read.)
• "The Beatles' Psychedelic Painting ‘Images of a Woman' Auctions for Over $1.7M at Christie's," informed High Times (read.)
• Doing Shrooms Alone: The Art of Tripping Solo, by DoubleBlind (read.)
• Study Finds Hundreds of Reddit Posts on "Trip-Killers" for Psychedelic Drugs (read.)
• Clerkenwell Health and Beckley Psytech are looking for candidates to participate in a novel 5-MeO-DMT formulation clinical trial assessing safety and efficacy on treatment-resistant depression (learn more.)
• UCSF's psychedelics center developed a new rating scale for the effects of psilocybin mushrooms, ketamine and MDMA and is looking for people with 3+ prior experiences with each to complete a survey.
• Watch Anyone's Child's new video featuring a mother's story toward becoming a drug reform campaigner.

Panorama Pulse

• atai Life Sciences ATAI has appointed Anne Johnson as new CFO.
• Clearmind Medicine CMND has announced an exclusive long-term licensing deal with an Israeli research center for its cocaine addiction treatment. The company also got hold of a new Chinese patent for its psychedelic-based treatment of binge behaviors.
• Cybin Inc. CYBN nabbed two Japanese patents supporting its DMT program.
• New Australian psychedelic-assisted therapy clinic center -and subsidiary venture of Incannex Healthcare IXHL- is now ready to commence prescribing MDMA- and psilocybin-assisted therapy for certain patients in Melbourne.
• PharmAla Biotech Holdings MDXXF presented its Q1 2024 interim financials, and more recently announced a "consulting relationship" with Red Light Holland TRUFF for developing a medical psilocybin drug product from the latter's mushroom portfolio.  
• Bright Minds Biosciences DRUG reported its quarterly earnings, no revenue for the time being, per The Green Market Report.
• Filament Health FLHLF got its new application on proprietary botanical psilocybin drug candidate targeting substance use disorders approved by the FDA, enabling the beginning of research on the drug for such conditions in the U.S.
• Awakn Life Sciences AWKNF announced listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange.
• Australian company Bioxyne Limited secured a national GMP license for psilocybin and MDMA manufacturing.
• Mydecine Innovations MYCOF received two U.S. notice of allowances for patents covering its MYCO-005 and MYCO-006 compounds families.
• The UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (BCSP) will host a new Civic Science Fellowship as part of a new initiative funded by the Dana Foundation.