FDA OKs Clinical Trials of Ecstasy for PTSD

The illicit drug has shown promise in helping people with debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder.

| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share

MDMAWIKIMEDIA, USDOJThe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the green light for Phase 3 clinical trials to test whether MDMA, an illegal drug also known as Ecstasy, can help treat post-traumatic stress disorder in a trial with at least 230 participants. This large-scale study comes on the heels of six promising Phase 2 trials of MDMA.

“I’m cautious but hopeful,” Charles Marmar, a psychiatrist at New York University’s Langone School of Medicine who was not involved in the study, told The New York Times. “If they can keep getting good results, it will be of great use. PTSD can be very hard to treat. Our best therapies right now don’t help 30 to 40 percent of people.”

Psychiatrists have been interested in exploiting the euphoric effects of MDMA in the clinic since the 1970s, but once Ecstasy was swept up in the Drug Enforcement Act’s crackdown on illegal substances, its Schedule 1 status prevented most research. In recent years, restrictions have loosened, and at least one promising study has shown that just three doses of MDMA administered by a psychiatrist ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Joshua A. Krisch

    This person does not yet have a bio.
Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo
New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

Sino

Products

Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide

Explore a Concise Guide to Optimizing Viral Transduction

A Visual Guide to Lentiviral Gene Delivery

Takara Bio
Inventia Life Science

Inventia Life Science Launches RASTRUM™ Allegro to Revolutionize High-Throughput 3D Cell Culture for Drug Discovery and Disease Research

An illustration of differently shaped viruses.

Detecting Novel Viruses Using a Comprehensive Enrichment Panel

Twist Bio