Antidepressants Can Be Used During Psilocybin Treatment, A New MindMed & Liechti Lab Study Finds

Psychedelics-focused biotech company Mind Medicine Inc. MNMD MMED MMQ announced the publication of its first data on the interaction of a selective serotonin uptake inhibitor, known as escitalopram, with an acute response to psilocybin in humans.

The publication is based on a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover pharmacology study in healthy volunteers and was published in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

The study, conducted by the University Hospital Basel Liechti Lab and sponsored by MindMed, found that escitalopram pre-treatment had no relevant impact on positive mood effects of psilocybin but significantly reduced negative effects like anxiety and adverse cardiovascular reactions, compared with placebo pre-treatment in the study’s healthy volunteers.

In addition, escitalopram altered neither pharmacokinetics of psilocin nor QTc intervals or circulating BDNF levels before or after psilocybin administration.

The study answered two key questions related to the use of psilocybin in patients undergoing antidepressant treatment – “should a patient stop using antidepressants before receiving psilocybin,” and “will the antidepressant reduce the patient’s response to psilocybin,” said Prof. Matthias Liechti, the principal investigator of the study.

“These results indicate that psilocybin may be dosed during escitalopram treatment without apparent impact on the effect of psilocybin,” Liechti added.

More recent news from MindMed:

MindMed Q3 Earnings: Big Improvement, Kicks Off Sleep & Cognitive Study With Dose Low-Dose LSD

How This Company Is Using Psychedelic Medicines and Therapies to Treat Addiction and Mental Illness

MNMD Price Action

MindMed shares traded 1.5330% lower at $1.9398 per share at the time of writing Tuesday morning.

Photo: Courtesy of Anna Shvets from Pexels