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SINGLE DOSE OF LSD HIGHLY EFFECTIVE AT TREATING ANXIETY  
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Colin Davidson
April 25, 2024
The Conversation
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_ Over 80 years after its discovery, LSD may finally have found a
medical application. A new study shows that it is highly effective at
treating generalised anxiety disorder for up to 12 weeks with just a
single dose. And it is fast acting. _

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LSD was accidentally discovered by Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz
pharmaceutical company in Switzerland in 1938. It was apparently
useless
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but from 1947 it was marketed
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as “a cure for everything from schizophrenia to criminal behavior,
‘sexual perversions’, and alcoholism”. It failed to find its
niche.

Now, over 80 years later, it may finally have found one – other than
expanding consciousness
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that is. A new study shows that it is highly effective at treating
generalised anxiety disorder
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for up to 12 weeks with just a single dose. And it is fast acting.

General anxiety disorder
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(hereafter referred to simply as “anxiety”) is a mental health
condition characterised by excessive worry, fear and anxiety about
everyday situations. It affects about 6% of adults during their life.
Treatments include psychotherapy, such as cognitive behavioural
therapy, as well as medications, such as antidepressants and
benzodiazepines.

Psychotherapy is expensive and takes weeks or months, while drugs need
to be taken daily for weeks, months or even years. And these can have
side-effects. Benzodiazepines are very addictive
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while SSRIs (the latest generation of antidepressants) have a variety
of side-effects
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including sexual dysfunction.

In addition, there are many anxious patients for whom none of the
established drugs work
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Clearly, new drugs for anxiety are needed.

A clinical trial in the US by the biopharmaceutical company MindMed
has shown that a form of LSD (lysergide d-tartrate), given at a
relatively low dose, can effectively treat people with anxiety.

Patients were given the drug at 25µg, 50µg, 100µg or 200µg. This
was a phase 2b clinical trial, which is where different doses of a
drug are tested in a group of people with the illness in question. The
purpose is to find a dose that works while having acceptable
side-effects. It was found that the 100µg dose was very effective
while having only relatively minor side-effects.

The study used the Hamilton anxiety scale
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to measure anxiety levels. Researchers found improvements in anxiety
levels within only two days of administration of their drug.

Further improvements were seen four and 12 weeks into the study. At 12
weeks, 65% of the patients were less anxious, with 48% of patients no
longer meeting the clinical criteria for anxiety.

The results were so remarkable that the Food and Drug Administration
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the US) has designated this a “breakthrough” drug. This means the
FDA will work closely with MindMed during the next phase of testing in
humans (called “phase 3”). This is where a larger group, usually
up to 3,000 patients, is tested.

In phase 3, LSD may also be tested against established drugs for
anxiety to determine if it works as well or possibly even better than
those already in clinical use.

Psychedelics shown to treat a range of disorders

Previous studies have examined certain illicit drugs, usually
hallucinogens or psychedelics, as treatments for depression,
post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and addiction. LSD, ecstasy
(MDMA), ketamine, ayahuasca and psilocybin all seem useful
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conditions.

A single dose of ketamine
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depressive symptoms for up to a week. The current study by MindMed is
the first positive single-dose study, with no psychotherapy, of LSD
for anxiety.

It is incredible to think that the US war on drugs
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which started with Richard Nixon in 1970, and the consequent
difficulties in scientifically examining these illicit drugs, has
lasted this long.

Most of these drugs were outlawed and scheduled
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accepted medical use”. Five decades later, we are finally finding
clinical uses for these drugs.

The data from the MindMed study has been sent to a top science journal
for peer review, so we should not get carried away just yet. A phase 3
trial is still needed. However, if a single dose of LSD does work for
12 weeks, then this is truly remarkable. We could be on the verge of a
new era of treatments for mental health problems.

_Correction: A previous version of this article gave the LSD doses in
milligrams. They should have been in micrograms._[The Conversation]

Colin Davidson
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Professor of Neuropharmacology, _University of Central Lancashire
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This article is republished from The Conversation
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the original article
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* Science
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* Medicine
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* psychedelics
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* LSD
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