Promising, but Very Preliminary
Commenting on the study for this news organization, Ramon Diaz-Arrastia, MD, PhD, professor of neurology and director of the Clinical TBI Research Center, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, said the results are “promising, but very preliminary.”
Dr. Diaz-Arrastia noted that this was an open-label, nonrandomized study, early phase 2a study with “highly subjective outcome measures and the likelihood of it being a placebo effect is very high.”
Nonetheless, “there is a lot of interest in these ‘psychedelic’ alkaloids, and ibogaine is a good candidate for further study,” Dr. Diaz-Arrastia said.
Also providing perspective, Alan K. Davis, PhD, director of the Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education, Ohio State University, Columbus, said “mounting evidence supports the importance of studying this treatment in rigorous clinical trials in the US.”
Dr. Davis and colleagues recently observed that treatment with two naturally occurring psychedelics — ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT — was associated with reduced depressive and anxiety symptoms in trauma-exposed SOVs, as previously reported by this news organization.
This new study “basically is a replication of what we’ve already published on this topic, and we published data from much larger samples and longer follow up,” said Dr. Davis.
Dr. Davis said it’s “important for the public to know that there are important and serious risks associated with ibogaine therapy, including the possibility of cardiac problems and death. These risks are compounded when people are in clinics or settings where proper screening and medical oversight are not completed.”
“Furthermore, the long-term effectiveness of this treatment is not well established. It may only help in the short term for most people. For many, ongoing clinical aftercare therapy and other forms of treatment may be needed,” Dr. Davis noted.
The study was independently funded by philanthropic gifts from Steve and Genevieve Jurvetson and another anonymous donor. Williams is an inventor on a patent application related to the safety of MISTIC administration as described in the paper and a separate patent related to the use of ibogaine to treat disorders associated with brain aging. Dr. Davis is a board member at Source Resource Foundation and a lead trainer at Fluence. Dr. Diaz-Arrastia has no relevant disclosures.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.