Small Pharma receives regulatory approval for clinical trial to explore DMT for depression, which it claims is the world’s first patient clinical trial of the psychedelic.

London-based Small Pharma has been given the green light by UK regulators for a trial assessing the safety, and later efficacy, of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in depression. The company believes that DMT can offer a shorter psychedelic therapy session, given that it “delivers a psychedelic experience in 20 minutes” according to CEO Peter Rand.

Small Pharma’s Chief Medical & Scientific Officer Carol Routledge likened the high-dose psychedelic experience to “shaking up a snow globe, disrupting unhealthy patterns of thought an providing an opportunity for them to resettle differently.”

The psychedelic experience occasioned by DMT is generally accepted to be more intense than that of peer drugs like psilocybin and is different in its nature according to Routledge.

DMT is the primary active ingredient in ayahuasca, a ceremonial brew used for spiritual and religious purposes by many tribes. Routledge suggested that, despite showing efficacy in treating patients with depression, ayahuasca “contains a bit of a cocktail of active components and so has a much poorer safety profile and is a significantly longer psychedelic experience compared to DMT.”

Last week the Financial Times reported that the UK government is set to receive a seven-figure return on an investment it made in Small Pharma via Angel CoFund, a state-backed investor that owns a 5.5% share in the company. Importantly, the fund invested in the company before it delved into psychedelic research.

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UK Regulators Approve World’s First DMT for Depression Clinical Trial