Mush Room for Improving Therapeutic Approaches in Psychiatry
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics March 15, 2023 Piet H. van der Graaf 1 citation
An editorial uses the fictional drama "Nine Perfect Strangers" to illustrate real-world challenges in psilocybin research, such as small sample sizes, lack of placebo controls, and short study durations. It notes 133 psilocybin trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov and highlights a recent phase II clinical trial in treatment-resistant major depressive disorder, whose results were both intriguing and sobering, leading to a phase III study. The editorial emphasizes the need for rigorous clinical pharmacology, citing recent studies on the pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics of psilocybin and LSD, and calls for more submissions in this area to convert medical hypotheses into safe, effective therapeutics.