Washington (AP) – LSD Low symptoms of anxiety in the mid -stage study published on Thursday, which paves the way for additional testing and possible medical approval on a anesthetic This was banned in the United States for more than half a century.
The results of the drug maker tested several doses of LSD in patients with moderate to severe generalized anxiety disorder, with benefits that last three months. The company plans to conduct follow -up studies to confirm the results and then apply for them Food and Drug Administration consent.
Starting in the fifties, Researchers published A wave of leaves that explore the therapeutic uses of LSD, although most of them do not fulfill modern standards.
“I see this paper a clear step in the direction of reviving this old research, applying our modern standards and determining the real costs and benefits of these compounds,” said Friedrich Barrett, who directs the anesthetic center at Johns Hopkins University and did not participate in the research.
Narcotic research trembling
Anesthetic in the midst of a common and Scientific returnWith conferences, documentaries, books and medical magazines that explore their potentials for conditions such as depressionAnd anxiety and Post -shock disorder.
The Food and Drug Administration has identified PsilocybinMDMA and now LSD as possible “penetration” remedies based on early results.
However, drugs did not have a sliding path to the market.
Last year, and The Food and Drug Administration refused MDMA – It is also known as euphoria – as a treatment for the sub -traumatic disorders, citing defective study methods, potential research bias and other issues.
The new LSD study, published by the American Medical Association magazine, is dealing with some of these problems.
MDMA, like many other drugs, was tested in conjunction with hours of modern treatment by trained health specialists. This approach has proven a problem for the food and drug administration auditors, who said it was difficult to separate the benefits of the drug from those treatment.
A LSD study took a simpler approach: patients got one dose of LSD – under professional supervision, but without treatment – then they were followed up for about three months.
Barrett pointed out that the paper does not separate how patients are preparing for the experience or the type of follow -up they received, which is very important to understand the research.
He said: “In many cases, people can have strong and subjective experiences who may need to speak to a processor to help them understand this.”
Anxiety relieves but the questions remain
For the study, researchers measured the symptoms of anxiety in nearly 200 patients who randomly received one of four doses of LSD or fake. The main goal was to find the optimum dose of the drug, which could cause severe visual hallucinations, feelings of panic or bone.
In four weeks, patients with two doses of anxiety have been much lower than those who received fake or less doses. After 12 weeks, 65 % of patients with the most effective LSD dose – 100 micrograms – lasted for showing benefits and considered approximately 50 % in remission. The most common side effects included hallucinations, nausea and headache.
Patients who obtained fake pills improved – a common phenomenon in narcotic and psychological studies – but their changes were less than half the size of those who get the real medicine.
The research was not immune to the problems seen in similar studies.
Most patients were able to guess whether they have received LSD or fake birth control pills properly, which reduces the “blind” approach, which is necessary to determine the benefits of a new drug objectively. In addition, a large part of the patients in both groups and the treatment groups left early, which led to the narrowing of the final data set.
It was also not clear how long patients might continue to benefit.
MINDMED performs two large experiences in the late stage that will track patients over a longer period of time, and if it succeeds, it is submitted to approve the Food and Drug Administration.
“Some people may need admiration,” said Dr. Maurizio Fava of the Mass GM Hospital, the main author of the study and a thinking consultant. “How many decline, we don’t know yet, but the long -term effect is very important.”
Interest from the Trump administration
Health Minister Robert F. Kennedy Junior. And other Administration officials She expressed her interest in narcotic treatment, indicating that he may receive a quick review of old warriors and other psychological wounds.
Public anxiety disorder is among the most common mental disorders, affecting about 3 % of American adults, according to the National Institutes of Health. Current treatments include psychotherapy, antidepressants and anti -anxious drugs such as benzodiazepines.
The ability to use LSD as a medical treatment is not new.
In the fifties and sixties of the last century, more than 1000 sheets were published documenting the use of LSD to treat alcohol, depression and other cases. But a federal reaction was in full swing by the late 1960s, when the anesthetic became associated with counter -characters such as Timothy Lerry, the former motor professor who promoted the famous drugs as a means of “operating and reaching the leak.”
The 1970 law classifies LSD and other drugs as tables 1 – without any medical use and high capabilities of abuse – we mainly stopped the American research.
When a handful of non -profit organizations begin to reassess the drugs in the 1980s and 1990s, it focused on the least well -known hallucinations such as MDMA and Psilocybin, the main component of magic mushrooms, to avoid the historical differences surrounding LSD.
“LSD was in front of everyone, but Mindmed is the first company that I have already decided to evaluate,” said Fava.
___
This story has been corrected to show that the active dose reported from LSD is 100 micrograms, not 100 milligrams.
___
The Ministry of Health and Science at Associated Press receives support from the Science Education Department at the Howard Hughes Institute for the Medical Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. AP is the only responsible for all content.