Your Brief
MindMed has commenced a study for its “LSD neutralizer technology,” which it hopes will be effective in shortening and even stopping the effects of an LSD trip during LSD assisted therapy sessions.
In collaboration with the Liechti Lab at University Hospital Basel, a Phase 1 clinical trial will evaluate the effect of ketanserin for this purpose.
MindMed hopes the study will be completed by the end of 2021.
Ketanserin: a 5-HT2A Antagonist
LSD is a serotonergic (or, ‘classic’) psychedelic, which binds to the 5-HT2A receptor. As such, it is understood to be a 5-HT2A agonist.
Ketanserin, meanwhile, is a 5-HT2A antagonist, and has been shown to remove most of the acute effects of LSD if administered prior to the administration of LSD (one such trial was conducted at University Hospital Basel itself; see also Section 6 of Canal, 2019 and Preller et al., 2017 for further information on Ketanserin and LSD).
Now, MindMed seeks to go beyond this pretreatment effect of ketanserin and explore whether the same effect can be reproduced after LSD has already been administered, to see if ketanserin can still mitigate the subjective effects of LSD when the psychedelic experience is in full swing.
Ketanserin itself with discovered by Janssen Pharmaceuticals (owned by J&J) in 1980. However, MindMed hopes that this study will support its patent application filed in 2020 which intends to cover its application as a neutralizer technology during LSD therapy.
Read the full release here.