Psychedelic research and clinical trials in 2021: A year in review

The excellent, although investor-focused, free weekly newsletter from Psilocybin Alpha recently published this detailed and informative review of psychedelic research published in 2021. The introduction to the review comments: "The resurgence of research into psychedelics has continued to thrive over the past year. Dozens of trials and hundreds of studies have been published in 2021, expanding the depth and scope of scientific inquiry in this flourishing space. If published findings from this past year are a reliable indicator of what is to come, these investigations will foreseeably expand our fundamental understanding of psychedelics and point to new, promising avenues of exploration. However, we must also appreciate the methodological challenges inherent in psychedelic research, as well as the broader fields within which such research is nested. It’s worth reminding ourselves of the lengthy timescales involved in drug development, with clinical trials regularly taking in excess of six years to complete. As such, it’s worth looking at studies announced and approved in 2021, and considering when we may expect to see data readouts from such work. Just as the funding environment for psychedelic research has heated up significantly in recent years, regulators are also demonstrating an increasingly warm attitude to such work. Toward the end of this section we review some key regulatory developments in 2021, and profile a handful of new psychedelics research centres. As you will see as you leaf through this report, psychedelic research is showing no signs of slowing. One of the most prolific psychedelics researchers, Robin Carhart-Harris, predicts “more of the same” in 2022, and data confirms that we’re witnessing the most productive period of psychedelic research (at least that which is conducted in recognised institutions)."

For more psychedelic news and research, visit the psychedelic health professional network homepage.