Compass's Psychedelic Drug to Treat Depression Meets Goal in Trial
Bezos Wedding Draws Protests, Soul-Searching Over Tourism in Venice
One Architect's Quest to Save Mumbai's Heritage From Disappearing
NYC Congestion Toll Cuts Manhattan Gridlock by 25%, RPA Reports
The company said its psilocybin drug reduced depression symptoms by 3.6 points on a rating scale compared to a placebo, meeting its goal but falling short of Wall Street expectations. The study evaluated 258 adults for a change in their symptoms at six weeks, Compass said Monday.
Investors had been expecting a five-point difference, RBC Capital Markets analyst Leonid Timashev said in a May note to clients.
Compass Pathways' American depositary receipts fell as much as 37% in early trading on Monday.
Still, Compass executives said the results would offer new momentum for psychedelic therapy. 'We've always said we were looking for a three-point or greater difference,' said Chief Medical Officer Guy Goodwin.
Compass is hoping to give a boost to a nascent field that's seeking to legitimize mind-altering drugs for the treatment of mental health.
Psilocybin is now the furthest along in development of any classic psychedelic since the Food and Drug Administration rejected Lykos Therapeutics Inc.'s MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder last year, saying there wasn't sufficient data to prove it was safe and effective.
'Seeing this kind of meaningful improvement from a single dose is incredibly important — for patients, for caregivers, and for the entire field,' said Compass Chief Patient Officer Steve Levine.
Compass's study looked at patients suffering from depression who hadn't been helped by at least two other treatments. About 21 million US adults have major depressive disorder, and about 30% of them have this form of depression, known as treatment-resistant depression.
Chief Commercial Officer Lori Engelbert said it was notable that patients saw sustained improvements six weeks after just one dose of medication. 'I don't think psychiatry has seen anything like this,' she said, 'with one administration lasting this long.'
In psychedelic trials, patients often know whether they've received the real drug, which can make placebo comparisons tricky.
'If we'd come out with a massive difference between active and placebo, then people would have said 'Oh, well, you can't trust placebo,'' Goodwin said, because experts worry trial participants might know whether they're on the drug or not.
An independent board reviewed safety data for Compass's trial and found no clinically meaningful imbalance in suicidal thinking between the treatment and placebo, the company said. One concern with psilocybin is it could worsen suicidal thoughts of people with depression.
This is the first of two late-stage trials for the drug, which is a synthesized version of an active ingredient in mushrooms. The second trial evaluated patients who got two doses of psilocybin. The company expects to release data from that trial next year.
The company is also studying the drug in adults with PTSD.
In recent years, magic mushrooms, MDMA and other psychedelics have been pitched as a panacea for several disorders including depression, PTSD, anxiety, nicotine addiction and anorexia. But Lykos's failure at the FDA has been viewed as a setback for the field.
Recently, psychedelics supporters have found new hope from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is now the Health and Human Services secretary. Last year, Kennedy said that his mind 'is open to the idea of psychedelics for treatment,' adding that 'people ought to have the freedom and the liberty to experiment with these hallucinogens to overcome debilitating disorders.'
If approved, Compass's drug would compete with Johnson & Johnson's Spravato, which is related to ketamine and generated over $1 billion in sales last year. Other biotechs developing psychedelics include GH Research PLC and Atai Life Sciences NV.
(Updates with shares in fourth paragraph.)
Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags
Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028?
Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros
The US Has More Copper Than China But No Way to Refine All of It
Can 'MAMUWT' Be to Musk What 'TACO' Is to Trump?
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Onion
3 minutes ago
- The Onion
Trump Sues Safeway Circular For False Ham Claims
WASHINGTON—In an escalation of his ongoing feud with the press, White House sources confirmed this week that President Donald Trump was suing the Safeway circular for false ham claims. 'The deceptive Safeway flyer peddles lies about the dry and chewy Krakus Polish Honey Ham being both tender and juicy,' the president told reporters aboard Air Force One, explaining that he was seeking $20 billion in damages from the grocery coupon publication and its editor-in-chief for what he described as a 'shocking hoax.' 'The Safeway circular has treated me very badly. They say you can taste the homestyle difference, but you cannot, and there's no way that ham can be $8.99 per pound after I brought grocery prices to an all-time low. However, that's nothing compared to the horrendous ham prices we saw under Biden.' Trump added that he planned to launch a sales flyer of his own that would represent lunch meat without bias, spotlighting only succulent, hickory-smoked American hams.
Business Insider
3 minutes ago
- Business Insider
The Fed's latest decision is leaving open a window of opportunity that many Americans may be ignoring
The president may be hammering the Federal Reserve for not cutting rates, but there's an opportunity for consumers amid elevated borrowing costs — and it's one that many households might not be cashing in on. Fed Chair Jerome Powell confirmed what markets already suspected on Wednesday, leaving the benchmark rate unchanged, despite pressure from President Donald Trump. With no Fed meeting scheduled for August, all eyes are on the possibility of a September rate cut. But the time between now and then may be the last opportunity for consumers to take advantage of an opportunity created by elevated interest rates. A study from savings marketplace Raisin said that 84% of Americans do not actively search for better savings rates, even if they could be saving substantially by opting for a different annual percentage yield. The study found that many American households have the potential to save substantially. "The average APY on Americans' savings accounts is .58% but they could be earning upwards of 4% APY — which amounts to nearly 7x more in interest each year," the study said, adding that the difference for a household with $10,000 in savings amounts to earning $400 versus $58. Put simply, if every American household were to opt for higher-yield savings, it could lead to as much as $396 billion per year for consumers. "Rates really start to come down once we get into the fall," Shana Hennigan, chief business office at Raisin, told Business Insider. "With that backdrop, while consumers still have the opportunity, this might be the time to strike." If Powell and the central bank cut rates in September, the window to see that kind of yield on savings accounts could be closing.
Politico
4 minutes ago
- Politico
Playbook PM: Trump's last-minute tariff hurdles
Presented by THE CATCH-UP TRADE WARS: There are just hours to go before President Donald Trump's deadline for scores of countries to strike trade deals with the U.S. or face steep tariffs. The president has managed to bend many trading partners to his will with lopsided (if vaguely sketched) agreements — and largely sidestepped, so far, the negative economic fallout that experts had predicted. But as the clock ticks down, Trump's protectionist agenda is also facing some fresh headwinds. Inflation nation: The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, a crucial inflation data point and the Fed's preferred metric, rose to 2.6 percent annually in June, per Bloomberg. That was up from 2.4 percent in May and a tick higher than economists expected. And it indicates that the fallout from Trump's tariffs is starting to push up prices for American consumers, even before his most sweeping levies take effect. Inflation remaining stubborn even as the labor market cools will make the central bank's task more difficult. In the courts: At the same time, Trump's tariff regime faces a serious legal threat. Federal appellate judges today sounded dubious of the administration's arguments that Trump has the authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, per CNBC's Kevin Breuninger and Dan Mangan. Judges pointed out that the law doesn't mention tariffs and that Trump is claiming essentially unbounded power to declare an emergency and impose tariffs, regardless of legal restrictions on his authority. The U.S. Court of International Trade has already struck down Trump's tariffs, but that decision is paused as the legal proceedings — which could go up to the Supreme Court — play out on the merits. Not so firm: After Trump insisted there would be no extensions of his Aug. 1 deadline, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum managed to secure one nonetheless. The two leaders spoke this morning, and Trump announced afterward that the U.S.-Mexico status quo will be extended another 90 days to allow for more in-depth talks. That means 25 percent tariffs on Mexican cars and 50 percent tariffs on Mexican metals will remain in place, but Mexico avoids broader 30 percent tariffs that were due to take effect tomorrow. Trump said Mexico agreed to lower trade barriers. Still struggling for deals: South Africa's trade minister said the country was trying one more last-minute offer to reach a deal and avoid 30 percent tariffs, per Reuters. And Indian PM Narendra Modi's government is reeling from Trump's hard line on tariffs despite Modi's efforts to build a relationship with him, NYT's Mujib Mashal reports from New Delhi. The devil in the details: For industry, the specifics of how the tariffs will be implemented remain a question mark, with companies eagerly waiting for the fine print and struggling with chaos in the meantime, Bloomberg's Laura Curtis reports. And there's a corresponding lack of detail on foreign countries' pledges to make big investments in the U.S. and buy American natural gas. Also happening today: Trump will meet with Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon to talk about the economy and geopolitics, Bloomberg's Todd Gillespie and Josh Wingrove report. Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@ 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 1. FITNESS FOR OFFICE: The Presidential Fitness Test is returning to American public schools. Trump plans to make the announcement as he builds out a presidential sports, fitness and nutrition council in an executive order this afternoon, CNN's Alayna Treene and Kyle Feldscher scooped. He'll be joined at the White House by Harrison Butker, Bryson DeChambeau, Annika Sörenstam, Lawrence Taylor and other pro athletes. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will lead the revival of the fitness challenge, as part of an effort to bolster children's health. 2. THE PEACEMAKER: Trump's involvement was pivotal in getting Thailand and Cambodia to back down from a deadly border clash, Reuters' Panu Wongcha-um and Poppy Mcpherson scooped. It was Trump's call to acting Thai PM Phumtham Wechayachai that managed to break through a deadlock where Malaysian and Chinese efforts had fallen short. (Cambodia had already gotten on board with ceasefire talks.) Trump urged Thailand to meet with Cambodia and threatened to stall progress on trade deals if they didn't stop the conflict. The truce is holding for now, though tensions remain high. 3. NO PEACE HERE: As Gaza's humanitarian catastrophe worsens, special envoy Steve Witkoff is in Israel for talks, but Trump still hasn't gotten Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire. Ninety-one more Palestinians have been killed while trying to get aid within just the past day, the Gaza Health Ministry said, per the AP. But Trump made clear that he places the onus on Hamas: 'The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!' he wrote on Truth Social this morning. And the U.S. slapped new sanctions on Palestinian officials, saying they were obstructing peace, per Reuters. 4. THE CHILLING EFFECT: 'How Trump's crackdown on law firms is undermining legal defenses for the vulnerable,' by Reuters' Mike Spector and colleagues: '[T]he aftershocks threaten lasting damage to America's tradition of mobilizing free lawyers to challenge government actions on behalf of the vulnerable. … Dozens of major law firms, wary of political retaliation, have scaled back pro bono work, diversity initiatives and litigation that could place them in conflict with the Trump administration, a Reuters investigation found. Many firms are making a strategic calculation: withdraw from pro bono work frowned on by Trump, or risk becoming the next target.' 5. STAT OF THE DAY: The number of federal employees who took the Trump administration's deferred resignation offer — and are now getting a salary not to work — is greater than 154,000, WaPo's Meryl Kornfield and colleagues scooped. That's about 6.7 percent of the workforce. They'll leave government at the end of the fiscal or calendar year, a pivotal piece of Trump's drive to significantly shrink the civil service. Critics say this is government inefficiency in action, though the administration argues that it will save money on salary costs in the long run. 6. WHAT HAPPENED AT CECOT: ''Welcome to hell': Inside the mega prison where the U.S. deported migrants,' by WaPo's Samantha Schmidt and colleagues: '[Sixteen] Venezuelans, rounded up in President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign, told The Post they were subjected to repeated beatings that left them bruised, bleeding or injured. They said prison staff restricted medical care for detainees suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure or kidney failure.' The Salvadoran government didn't respond for comment. One attorney said this 'may have violated U.N. conventions against torture,' and an international jurist said the International Criminal Court should investigate. 7. GOING NUCLEAR: Amid clashes with Democrats over stalling tactics to confirm Trump's picks, more and more Senate Republicans want to use a nuclear option to limit debate time for nominees, Semafor's Burgess Everett scooped. Regardless of whether the parties reach a deal to confirm some nominees before the August recess, the GOP could go there in the fall, as Trump and Republican senators grow frustrated with the hold-ups. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Republicans would prefer to make rules changes with Democrats, with considering nominations en bloc as one potential idea, per POLITICO's Jordain Carney. 8. 2026 WATCH: Gallup has more data confirming the strange contradiction for the Democratic Party these days: More Americans consider themselves Democrats or Dem-leaning than Republican/GOP-leaning for the first time in more than a year. But at the same time, perceptions of the Democratic Party have hit a record low, and Americans believe the GOP is better suited to bring changes the U.S. needs. At the same time, Americans for Prosperity is launching a $6 million ad campaign to promote the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, POLITICO's Andrew Howard scooped. Golden State warriors: In the end, Kamala Harris opted against a California gubernatorial run for the simple reason that her 'heart wasn't in it,' POLITICO's Melanie Mason reports. With Harris out, the Democratic primary is now wide open — and our California Playbook colleagues Dustin Gardiner and Blake Jones break down where it stands at the outset. Former Rep. Katie Porter could be a top beneficiary of Harris' decision, having performed strongly in some initial polling. But many other contenders, including Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, could mount strong bids, and Rick Caruso remains a wild card. 9. SIGN OF THE TIMES: The country's beliefs about race and diversity look significantly different now than during the 2020 racial reckoning, AP's Terry Tang and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux report from a new AP/NORC center survey. 'The new poll finds 45% of U.S. adults think Black people face high levels of discrimination, down from 60% in the spring of 2021. There was a similar drop in views about the prevalence of serious discrimination against Asian people, which fell from 45% in the 2021 poll … to 32% … [L]ess than half of Americans think DEI has a benefit for the people it's intended to help.' TALK OF THE TOWN Josh Hawley said Donald Trump opposed his stock trading ban because other senators told him the bill would make him sell Mar-a-Lago. BOOK CLUB — Kamala Harris is publishing a memoir, '107 Days,' about her abbreviated presidential campaign, per AP's Hillel Italie. Simon & Schuster is putting the book out Sept. 23. In an announcement video, Harris said, 'I've spent a lot of time reflecting on those days and with candor and reflection, I've written a behind-the-scenes account of that journey.' Harris will also appear on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' tonight for her first interview since leaving office, per POLITICO's Melanie Mason. PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — 'Sneaking Into the Spy Museum's New Vault,' by NYT's Sopan Deb: 'For years, the more than 10,000 items in the International Spy Museum's collection were stored at a location outside Washington. That changed this summer.' OUT AND ABOUT — Mike Davis and Otto and Mia Heck hosted a celebration honoring newly confirmed U.S. Circuit Judge Emil Bove last night at Butterworth's. SPOTTED: Sarah Samis, Sens. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Todd and Kristine Blanche, Chad Mizelle, John Sauer, Elliot Gaiser, Jeanine Pirro, Aakash Singh, Ed Martin, Brendan Chestnut, Paul Perkins, David Warrington, Sergio Gor, Gineen Bresso, Steve and Gabi Kenny, Gary Lawkowski, Jacob Reses, Sean Cooksey, Mark and Tricia Paoletta, Jeff Clark, Andrew Ferguson, Gary Barnett, Lucas Croslow, Brendan Carr, Megan Owen, Jennifer and Nick Davis, Ryan Giles, Katie and Bill Lane, Laura Ingraham, Steve Bannon, Jack Posobiec, Alex Swoyer, Caroline Wren, Rachel Brand and Jonathan Cohn, Jill Kozeny, Jason Van Beek, Kat Nikas, Michael Thielen, Bill McGinley, Don McGahn, Rob Luther, James Burnham, Derek and Liz Lyons, Will Levi, Rob Zink and Lanny Davis. TRANSITIONS — Goldman Sachs' top lobbyist, Michael Paese, is leaving the role and will be a senior adviser to the firm, as Republican Michael Thompson replaces him as chief global lobbyist, Bloomberg's Todd Gillespie reports. … Melissa Winter will be a senior adviser to the Obamas' family foundation as the Obama Presidential Center gets ready to open, POLITICO's Shia Kapos reports. She previously was the longtime chief of staff for Michelle Obama. … Raffetto Herman Strategic Communications has added Pheniece Jones as a principal consultant and Christiaan Brown as an SVP. Jones most recently was VP and head of media at the Curley Company. Brown previously was VP of corporate comms and brand at Accolade. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
