PLoS ONE
February 25, 2022
Elliot Marseille, Jennifer Mitchell, James G. Kahn
49 citations
For patients with severe or extreme chronic PTSD, MDMA-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT) costs $11,537 per patient and generates net health care savings of $132.9 million over 30 years per 1,000 patients, while accruing 4,856 quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and averting 61.4 premature deaths compared with standard care. The therapy breaks even on cost at 3.8 years. A three-session MDMA regimen yields greater medical savings and health benefits than a two-session regimen. Even if no health care cost savings are assumed, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio is $2,384 per QALY gained. MDMA-AT is cost-saving from a payer's perspective and delivers substantial clinical benefit.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
December 6, 2023
Elliot Marseille, Manish Agrawal, Paul Thambi et al.
40 citations
Group psychedelic-assisted therapy, compared with individual therapy, reduces clinician costs by 50.9% for MDMA treatment of PTSD and 34.7% for psilocybin treatment of major depressive disorder, saving $3,467 and $981 per patient respectively. Using 2023 data from two trial sites and published prevalence estimates, treating all eligible U.S. adults with PTSD or MDD over ten years with group therapy would require 6,711 fewer full-time clinicians for MDMA-PTSD and 1,159 fewer for psilocybin-MDD, saving up to $10.3 billion and $2.0 billion. Adopting group protocols could lower costs, ease clinician shortages, and expand patient access.
Translational Psychiatry
August 29, 2025
Anton L.v. Avanceña, Linh N. Vuong, James G. Kahn et al.
8 citations
Psilocybin-assisted therapy (PAT) may offer economic value compared to standard care for treatment-resistant depression when its cost is $5000 or less. A simulation model of representative US adults with treatment-resistant depression found that adding PAT to standard care (pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy, and esketamine nasal spray) over 12 months yielded an additional 0.031 quality-adjusted life years and $3639 in costs, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $117,517 per QALY gained. At a $150,000 cost-effectiveness threshold, PAT had a 75% probability of being cost-effective. Results were sensitive to PAT's cost: at $10,000 the probability dropped to 1%, at $3000 it rose to 95%.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
September 4, 2025
Kevin D. Lam, Caroline Griffin, S. Kantipudi et al.
1 citation
Eighteen low- and middle-income countries on five continents show promise for implementing psychedelic-assisted therapies, with South Africa, Thailand, Mexico, Brazil, and Jamaica ranking in the top tertiles across seven of eight readiness domains. Readiness depends on high mental health burden, adequate infrastructure and insurance coverage, less stringent legal prohibitions, and cultural familiarity with psychedelics. Twenty-five countries did not achieve top rankings in any domain. The assessment used thirty-four criteria across eight domains, including disease epidemiology, mental health infrastructure, workforce, and legal status, to evaluate 136 countries.