COMPASS Pathways and Kings College London publish cognition results from COMP360 psilocybin study
This week, COMPASS pathways and King's College London published the largest randomised placebo-controlled trial of psilocybin to date, finding that COMP360 psilocybin had no clinically-relevant negative effect on cognitive function.
The phase I study involved administering COMP360 psilocybin to healthy adult volunteers with support from specially trained therapists.
Cognitive function was measured via Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), which is the 'gold standard', one day prior to COMP360 administration (baseline) and one week and four weeks after administration.
Key findings included:
• Single doses of COMP360 do not exert clinically-relevant, negative effects in healthy volunteers on the cognitive functions assessed
• On some of the CANTAB measures, there were trends demonstrating, on average, better cognitive performance in the COMP360 groups by week four, compared with baseline. These findings call for further investigation in clinical populations
• The small sample size, and the fact that participants were typically highly educated, limit the generalisability of results
• As reported previously, there were no serious adverse events, and COMP360 psilocybin was found to be generally safe and well-tolerated
Data from the phase IIb trial of COMP360 psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) will be published later this year.
Kings College London's Dr James Rucker said that “this study, the largest randomised placebo-controlled trial of psilocybin to date, found that COMP360 psilocybin had no clinically-relevant negative effect on cognitive function. The results of the study are clinically reassuring and support further development of psilocybin therapy for patients with mental health conditions that have not improved with existing treatments, such as TRD.”
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