Latest news with #Psilocybin
Scoop
6 days ago
- Health
- Scoop
Guidelines Released For Prescribing Psilocybin
Associate Minister of Health Associate Health Minister David Seymour is welcoming steps to provide medical practitioners with more tools to treat people with depression, with Medsafe publishing guidelines for experts wanting to prescribe Psilocybin. 'This is huge for people with depression who've tried everything else and are still suffering. If a doctor believes psilocybin can help, they should have the opportunity to do what's best for their patient,' says Mr Seymour. 'Recent changes have put New Zealand's settings in line with Australia, where authorised prescribers have been using psilocybin in clinical settings for some time. 'Psilocybin remains an unapproved medicine, but one highly experienced psychiatrist has already been granted authority to prescribe it to patients with treatment-resistant depression. 'This is excellent news for their patients, but there are other Kiwis in need in different parts of New Zealand who might have an appropriate practitioner nearby. 'Practitioners must meet a series of requirements to gain approval, including being registered with the Medical Council with a current practicing certificate, a good understanding and experience of the medicines and the psychotherapeutic processes involved in psychedelic-assisted therapy, and a detailed proposal of how they will administer the treatment that has been peer reviewed and will be considered by Medsafe. 'Soon more practitioners will have the ability to use this medicine, meaning more patients will benefit.'
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Shrooms may keep you young. They did for the lab mice in this study
(NewsNation) — Psilocybin, a chemical in hallucinogenic mushrooms, may help delay skin and lung cell aging by more than 50%, a new study suggests. Researchers used a cellular aging model of human lung cells to see how the chemical would impact them. In a later model, the team discovered that mice at the equivalent of 60-65 human years who were given psilocybin lived longer than the ones that did not. While more testing is needed to determine just how that would translate to humans, it's another potential scientific benefit of psilocybin. Use of cannabis, hallucinogen at 'historically high levels': Research The findings were published July in the journal npj Aging. This year, Colorado became the second state to legalize psychedelic therapy. While research has shown promise for psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and MDMA, also known as molly, in helping people with conditions such as alcoholism, depression and PTSD, the scientific field remains in its relatively early stages. In 2023, the use of hallucinogens including LSD, mescaline, peyote, shrooms or psilocybin, continued a five-year trend of increasing, with 9% of respondents 19-30 saying they used hallucinogens, compared to 4% of respondents 35-50, according to a 2024 survey. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Medical News Today
15-07-2025
- Health
- Medical News Today
Slowing aging: Psilocybin helps extend life span in human cells by over 50%
Psilocybin is a chemical that is found in a wide variety of mushrooms known for their euphoric and hallucinogenic effects. Over the past few years, there have been a number of studies investigating the use of psilocybin for the treatment of mental health disorders and medical conditions. A new study says psilocybin may help delay aging by increasing the cellular life span of human skin and lung cells by more than 50%. Scientists also reported evidence psilocybin may help protect the body from age-related diseases through several health-protecting qualities, via a mouse is a chemical that is found in a wide variety of mushrooms. Also known as 'shrooms' and 'magic mushrooms,' psilocybin is known for its euphoric and hallucinogenic effects. Over the past few years, there have been a number of studies investigating the use of psilocybin for the treatment of mental health disorders such as treatment-resistant depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance use disorders, as well as medical conditions like migraine, Alzheimer's disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and Parkinson's disease. 'The overwhelming majority of what we know about psilocybin is from clinical outcomes (with >150 clinical trials ongoing or completed) and impacts on the brain,' Louise Hecker, PhD, associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine, told Medical News Today. 'Psilocybin is well known for its hallucinogenic properties. However, we know very little about what it does otherwise, particularly its impact systemically on the rest of the body.'Hecker is the senior author of a new study recently published in the journal npj Aging that has found indication that psilocybin may help delay aging by increasing the cellular lifespan of human skin and lung cells by more than 50%. Scientists also reported evidence psilocybin may help protect the body from age-related diseases, such as neurodegeneration, heart disease, and cancer through several health-protecting qualities, via a mouse helps extend life in cells by over 50%For this study, researchers first used a cellular aging model of human lung cells to see how psilocin — the active ingredient in mushrooms that causes hallucinogenic effects — would impact them. Scientists reported that psilocin helped to extend the cellular lifespan of human skin and lung cells by more than 50%.'The significance is that psilocin-treated cells do age, however they age at a slower rate, while maintaining the properties of 'young' cells longer,' Hecker, who was an associate professor at Emory University at the time of the study, said. When moving to a mouse model, Hecker and her team also discovered that mice at the equivalent of 60-65 human years given psilocybin lived longer than those who did not receive it. Additionally, these mice displayed healthier features, such as fewer white hairs and hair regrowth.'We designed this experiment with the clinical relevance in mind — wouldn't it be great if we could give an intervention to elderly adults that helps them to live healthier longer?,' Hecker explained. 'Our study suggests that this is possible.'Psilocybin helps maintain telomere length, helping with agingAccording to researchers, their findings suggest that psilocybin assists with slowing aging by reducing oxidative stress, improving DNA repair responses, and maintaining the length of telomeres. Telomeres are the 'end caps' of chromosomes. By helping to preserve telomere lengths, the researchers believe this may help protect the body from age-related diseases like heart disease, neurodegeneration, and cancer. 'Psilocybin appears to reduce the 'wear and tear' that accompanies aging. Although psilocybin is well-known for its psychedelic effects, our study suggests that psilocybin has potent impacts on the entire body. Psilocybin holds great potential for promoting healthy aging — this is just the starting point, as much more research is needed.'— Louise Hecker, PhD'We need to better understand its mechanisms of action, in particular how it works outside the brain to impact systemic aging and other processes,' Hecker said. 'More research is needed to optimize dosing/frequency protocols as well as monitor for the potential of adverse effects before it is ready to be used clinically as an anti-aging agent.'More studies needed to translate findings to humansMNT spoke with Jack Jacoub, MD, a board certified medical oncologist and medical director of MemorialCare Cancer Institute at Orange Coast and Saddleback Medical Centers in Orange County, CA, about this study. 'Cell aging is a key feature to overall health and illnesses and cancer,' Jacoub said. 'And so there's a lot of therapies now that are looking at things like senescence, which is normal cell aging, how to slow it down, and how to repair the damage that happens with aging. Sometimes issues related to cancer are due to the inability to repair damage, and it becomes a cancerous cell.' Jacoub commented that while this was a very interesting and notable observational study, it's a big leap right now to say these findings will translate to human illnesses, including cancer. 'It's too general right now to say anti-aging — that's an incredible umbrella. For it to really make an impact, and for you to see it available and recommended, it's going to need to be advanced further, obviously in humans, but then in particular areas to be able to say, yes, there really is merit to this, we should be recommending this to patients, etc.' — Jack Jacoub, MD'Like for example, could it help repair injury quickly?,' Jacoub continued. 'That would be (an) interesting thing to observe and study. And so let's say it's stroke patients, heart attack patients, whatever it might be — is there some role there to use it and accelerate healing from events like that? (And) a good one would be cellular repair. Can you recover and heal faster if you took this? That would be an example of it.'
NZ Herald
03-07-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
The surprising health benefits of magic mushrooms
Psilocybin has been used to treat clinical depression, but can it also benefit brain health and longevity? My eyes are shut, so how come I can see colours and patterns like the cover art of an album from 1968? I'm lying under a blanket surrounded by eight other 'psychonauts', individuals
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Compass's Psychedelic Drug to Treat Depression Meets Goal in Trial
(Bloomberg) -- Compass Pathways Plc's shares plummeted after its psychedelic drug to treat a form of depression disappointed investors in a late-stage 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.
