EU grants 6.5 million euros to study on psychedelic therapy in hospice care

2024-04-02

In international collaboration, researchers in 19 countries hope to answer if psychedelic mushrooms can contribute to hospice care. "Psychedelic therapy has shown both fast and long-lasting effect, and that the EU is now funding our study with 6.5 million euros is an important step," says Ulf Bremberg, Visiting researcher at the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and initiator of the project application.

Patients with serious and advanced illnesses often also suffer from depression. Thus, adding further demands on the already strained resources of our health care systems. Previous studies show that treatment with the psychedelic substance Psilocybin combined with psychotherapy has a positive effect, and in the new study PsyPal, 100 patients receiving hospice care will undergo treatment with psilocybin.

“We will follow how the patients' and their relatives' perceived quality of life is affected during the therapy. If the health gains prove to outweigh the financial costs of the treatment, this could improve health care’s possibilities to give people with advanced disease a better end of life,” says Inna Feldman, Researcher in Social medicine and Health economics at Uppsala University.

PsyPal unites researchers in 19 countries, is coordinated at the University Medical Center Groningen and is expected to last three years. The work is receiving funding from the EU, having allocated 6.5 million euros to the project. Ulf Bremberg, Visiting researcher at the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, is one of the initiators of the application that has rendered the financial support:

“Today's best treatment with antidepressants helps many, but far from all, and the effect often takes several weeks to set in. Psychedelic therapy, on the other hand, has in early clinical trials shown effect already the day after treatment and seems to remain for at least months after only one or two doses. Pharmacologically, psilocybin is safer than most drugs, but treatment can be demanding and requires therapeutic support. If our study is successful, this treatment could be implemented in healthcare already within a few years, and that the EU now chooses to fund our research is a big step forward,” says Ulf Bremberg who, in parallel with his position at Uppsala University, is also CEO of HumanKindLabs.

FACTS

Psypal is coordinated by the University Medical Center Groningen.
Uppsala University is one of several universities participating in the research project.

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CONTACT

Ulf Bremberg, Visiting researcher
Dep. of Medicinal Chemistry
Ulf.Bremberg@ilk.uu.se

text: Magnus Alsne, photo: HumanKindLabs a o