Psychedelics Pipeline Overview: R&D Blossoms But No Panacea Among Candidates

05 Jul 2022

• By Ayisha Sharma

While the psychedelic approach to mental health has recently achieved some clinical and regulatory validation, executives in the space warn the drugs cannot cure all and barriers to market remain.

One of the compounds in the pipeline, psilocybin, is found in liberty cap mushrooms • Source: Shutterstock

Following a staggered development history set back by the "war on drugs", biotech firms have in recent years kick-started R&D into psychedelics, but despite a blooming clinical pipeline, the field has several challenges to overcome ranging from the risk-averse attitude of potential big pharma partners to identifying the right patients for treatment.

Psychedelics, also known as ‘classical hallucinogens’, are compounds which share a chemical structure similar to the neurotransmitter serotonin, and include...