🫠 This Week in Psychedelics

PRESENTED BY SCHOOL OF PSYCHEDELICS & ALTHEA 🤝

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that can’t keep a secret. What can we say? We just want you to know all the things. 🤫

Here’s what we got this week.

• AtaiBeckley’s latest 5-MeO-DMT results ♾️

• Psychedelics feature in secret MAHA meeting 🏛️

• A new way to measure mushroom potency 🧑‍🔬

• Win a psychedelic glamping trip to Iceland 🌘

FROM OUR SPONSORS

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MICRODOSES

🔬 Research

Fountain of youth: Psilocybin may improve mood, memory, and learning through epigenetic remodeling of the aging brain.
Survival mechanism: A study of Nova festival survivors concluded that “adaptive psychedelic dissociation” offered them some trauma protection.
R is for relief: R-ketamine may be more effective than racemic ketamine for alcohol use disorder.
PIHKAL: A new class of analogs related to 2C-B may hold potential as novel antidepressants.
Functional plasticity: Psychedelics produce behavioral effects, even when the brain’s physical structure doesn’t change.

🏛️ Policy

Debate club: Experts gathered at Harvard Law School to discuss whether (and how) psychedelic therapy should be legalized federally.
The final journey: The nation’s leading end-of-life rights attorney is fighting to bring psychedelics to the dying.
Bon voyage: The pilot who tried to cut the engines of a passenger flight during a psilocybin-induced derealization episode won’t serve any more time in prison.
(Re)integration: Psychedelic-assisted therapy could support the desistance from crime, and Czechia provides a model.
Miss and you’ll land among the stars: PAREA is calling for a European Mental Health Moonshot, which would involve piloting regulatory sandboxes for psychedelic therapies.

📈 Business

Money printer go brr: This Psychedelics ETF is massively outperforming the S&P 500.
Clean slate: Cybin’s latest quarterly report highlights a $248 million cash position and full repayment of its debt.
Cheers to that: Clearmind Medicine is expanding the Phase 1/2a clinical trial of its MEAI-based drug for alcohol use disorder.
Special delivery: NeoLumina is partnering with Catalent to develop a new psilocin delivery product.
First, do no harm: MAPS weighs in on its collaboration with the state of Ohio to teach 127,000 professionals how to respond to psychedelic crises.

🫠 Just for fun

Sky stories: Here’s how cultures throughout history have explained the aurora borealis.
Parts work problems: Some patients say the popular therapy modality, Internal Family Systems, has destroyed their lives.
Ultra marathon man: An ex-fighter (whom we interviewed) completed his psychedelic-fueled 500-mile run.
Meme of the week: When everyone’s drinking alcohol but you prefer substances that help you think and feel more deeply…

THE PEAK EXPERIENCE

Let them cook

Sheesh.

You know you’re on a tear when your earnings report reads more like a victory lap than a financial statement.

AtaiBeckley is objectively crushing it. Between completing their merger, scoring an FDA breakthrough therapy designation, and raising $150 million, the newly combined psychedelics powerhouse had one helluva quarter.

But this week, we’re digging into their latest win: new open-label extension results for BPL-003, their 5-MeO-DMT nasal spray.

To jog your memory, the original Phase 2b trial showed that a single dose of BPL-003 significantly improved depression scores, for up to 8 weeks. The extension study asked what happens if patients get a second dose 8 weeks later.

Here’s what they found.

• 📈 Compounding effects: Patients who got active doses in both rounds saw their depression scores drop an average of 19 points from baseline by week 16.

• 🎯 Higher success rates: 63% met response criteria and 48% hit full remission.

• ⏰ Lasting relief: Benefits persisted for up to four months with the two doses.

• ✅ Mostly safe: Side effects were mild and transient, though one serious adverse event did occur.

Now for the reality check. This was open-label with no control, meaning everyone knew they were getting the real thing. (Then again, folks in the randomized trial probably figured that out, too.) The sample size was also just 107 patients.

AtaiBeckley probably won’t be first to market, either. Compass Pathways is leading the pack with psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, not to mention the four other breakthrough psychedelic therapies tapped by the FDA.

Still, if BPL-003 can indeed fit into a 2-hour clinic visit (vs psilocybin’s 8-hour marathon), that's a fundamentally different business model. We'll see if Phase 3 data backs up the hype.

For now, though, let ‘em have their moment. 🫠

AFTERGLOW

Make America transparent again

Top Trump administration officials gathered in DC last week for a secretive MAHA Summit, and wouldn’t ya know, psychedelics were on the agenda. Vice President JD Vance, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary all attended, though the event was closed to media. (That or our invitation got lost in the mail.)

The psychedelic chatter revolved around a fireside chat between AtaiBeckley founder Christian Angermayer and Matt Zorn, HHS attorney and the admin’s unofficial “psychedelics czar.” The title of the conversation, “Psychedelic Medicine: The Next Frontier in Mental Health,” seems to signal how seriously this administration is taking the issue, especially after Kennedy said in June that HHS is hoping to provide legal psychedelic therapy to veterans within 12 months.

Speaking of RFK, journalist Olivia Nuzzi's new memoir alleges that, despite claiming to be sober for decades, he told her he still smokes DMT. (Eh, maybe he meant Colorado sober?) Whether you see his choices as authentic lived experience or hypocrisy probably depends on where you already stood on Kennedy. Either way, the guy apparently practices what he preaches.

There’s gotta be a better way

Scientists in Uruguay have developed a new method for measuring the potency of psilocybin mushrooms. Instead of relying on liquid chromatography (the old way), they're using quantitative NMR spectroscopy, a technique that identifies molecules by how they respond to magnetic fields. Not only does that sound awesome… it’s also faster and doesn’t destroy your sample in the process.

When they tested six P. cubensis strains, they saw a wide range of strengths. Total tryptamine content ranged from 0.15% to 0.46% of dry weight, meaning some mushrooms were 3x stronger than others. (Btw, we’ve heard of 50x strains, not that it’s a competition.) They also found that storage conditions dramatically affected the ratio of psilocybin to psilocin, which is likely explained by moisture exposure.

But enough about their proof-of-concept tests. What matters is that as psilocybin therapy expands beyond Oregon and Colorado, producers will need reliable quality control systems. Ideally ones that don’t require sending samples off to specialized labs for days. Don’t quote us on this, but qNMR could become the industry standard for making sure your therapeutic dose is actually therapeutic.

CYCLISTS’ PICKS

• 🎟️ Giveaway: Win a trip for two to Iceland Eclipse 2026, featuring appearances from Rick Doblin, Reggie Watts, Imogen Heap, and more. For every dollar you donate to Heroic Hearts Project, you’ll earn one entry.

• 💆 Online immersion: At Heart Mind Institute’s free Heal & Restore Summit next month, 62 world-renowned teachers will offer daily guided practices to help you release stress, restore balance, and re-enter the new year whole.

• 📙 Book: Jon Rosemberg’s debut title, A Guide to Thriving, earned praise from Gabor Maté and Seth Godin for its science-grounded yet human-centered approach to escaping survival mode.

• 🎧 Music: MAPS has collected several artist-curated playlists to support your set and setting. Hate to play favorites, but don’t miss Boreta’s or Liquid Bloom’s.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

That’s all for today, Cyclists! Whenever you’re ready, here’s how we can help.

ONE CYCLIST’S REVIEW

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. The use, possession, and distribution of psychedelic drugs are illegal in most countries and may result in criminal prosecution.