The for-profit psychedelic industry is starting to fund scientific research, mirroring practices from tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceutical, and food industries that have created conflicts of interest and harmed population health. Researchers face limited ethics guidance on accepting such sponsorship. A group of clinician scientists applied the PERIL ethical framework to a fictional case of corporate psychedelic funding, finding that financial ties can threaten a research program's purpose, autonomy, and integrity. The commercial determinants of health framework helps understand these industry-healthcare entanglements and offers a population health ethics lens for examining and addressing risks in the nascent psychedelic sector.
A new therapy combining psilocybin with evidence-based psychotherapies for people with advanced cancer, called PEARL therapy, will be tested in an open-label trial with 15 participants. The study will assess whether the therapy is acceptable, feasible, and safe by tracking recruitment, retention, adherence, and serious adverse events, and by collecting self-report questionnaires and qualitative interviews. This research aims to inform policy, training, and clinical guidelines for psychedelic-assisted therapies, which may improve quality of life for those with advanced disease.