19-05-2025
Magic mushrooms 'could help people with Parkinson's' and now large-scale clinical trial is planned
The first clinical trial exploring whether the drug found within magic mushrooms could help treat Parkinson's disease has shown promising results.
It marks the first time a psychedelic has been tested on individuals with a neurodegenerative disorder.
Parkinson's disease, an incurable progressive brain disorder caused by the death of nerve cells in the brain that produce dopamine, leads to movement and speech issues that worsen over time.
Now, in a new landmark study, all 12 patients, with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease and an average age of 63, all reported improvements in mood, cognition and motor function, with such benefits lasting for months.
Alongside psychotherapy, participants were given a 10mg dose of psilocybin followed by 25mg two weeks later.
While side effects of nausea, anxiety and elevated blood pressure were noted at the follow-up appointments after the dosing sessions, none of these required medical attention.
Given that no obvious signs of harm were noted, a larger trial involving up to 100 more patients has also been approved, with the study's lead author, Dr Ellen Bradley, of the University of California in San Francisco, telling The Times that the results were 'well beyond what we expected'.
Parkinson's disease affects those such as 'Back to the Future' star Michael J Fox, 63 (pictured) who announced just last week that he is set to make an extraordinary return to acting after nearly three decades of livng with Parkinson's disease, which is surging across the US
Dr Bradley added that while it had been 'unexpected' for an improvement in motor function and cognitive performance to have been observed, these were still 'preliminary findings' and stressed it was too early for conclusions to be drawn.
Possible reasons behind the benefits of the magic mushrooms include its ability to impact brain inflammation and therefore stimulate neuroplasticity (the brain's ability to both reorganise and create new neural connections).
Describing the results, which showed no 'serious side effects' despite a high-dosage of psilocybin as 'incredibly encouraging', Dr Bradley said that the 'reassuring data' now allows them to move forward with a larger trial of the hallucinogen.
The researcher also remains hopeful that it will assist the ongoing endeavour to provide further treatment for Parkinson's disease, which currently affects up to 153,000 people across the UK.
This figure is anticipated to rise to around 172,000 by 2030, as a result of population growth and ageing, with Parkinson's the fastest growing neurological condition in the world.
It affects those such as 'Back to the Future' star Michael J Fox, 63, who announced just last week that he is set to make an extraordinary return to acting after nearly three decades of livng with Parkinson's disease, which is surging across the US.
Having been diagnosed at just 29 years old, Mr Fox managed to hide his disease from the public eye for seven years, before he began appearing on screen less often as he had more trouble walking, talking and controlling tremors.
Speaking about the 'really exciting next step' of a larger trial, Dr Bradley added: 'We will be able to test how effective psilocybin therapy is for people with Parkinson's and also collect multimodal biological data — from brain stimulation, imaging, blood tests — that will help us figure out exactly how psilocybin impacts different aspects of Parkinson's.'
The next trial is set to be funded by both an anonymous donor and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.
