New clinical trial to explore DMT as treatment for substance use disorders

The Canadian R&D company Entheon Biomedical has set out to investigate the therapeutic use of the psychedelic dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in treating addiction disorders. Specifically, the company has commissioned a clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of using intravenous DMT.

DMT is a hallucinogenic compound and is one of the main active ingredients in ayahuasca, a South American preparation used in shamanistic rituals, and can be extracted from several plants. Its effects are also more transient in contrast to those of other psychedelics, such as LSD and hallucinogenic mushrooms. In addition, DMT has already been shown to be safe to use.

Entheon Biomedical has made an agreement with the Centre for Human Drug Research (CHDR) located in Leiden, Netherlands, to carry out an early phase clinical trial with DMT on humans. According to Entheon’s CEO, Timothy Ko, the main objective of the study is to examine the safety of DMT in humans and, specifically, to evaluate the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of DMT when administered intravenously. Furthermore, the overarching goal of the clinical study would be to understand DMT’s potential as part of a therapeutic protocol to treat substance use disorders.