A psychedelic nasal spray requiring a much shorter period of clinical supervision has shown promise against treatment-resistant depression, giving biotechs hope that this type of drug will become a viable option for healthcare systems to use for mental health conditions.
Atai Life Sciences and Beckley Psytech announced on Tuesday that patients in their trial of mebufotenin benzoate — based on a compound found in many plants and the venom of the Colorado River toad — demonstrated “clinically meaningful” reductions in depressive symptoms that started as soon as the day after treatment.
The effect of a single treatment lasted for the trial of eight weeks without plateauing by the end and there were no serious side effects.