2026 Trends
Initiative Chair: Mary-Elizabeth Gifford, EVP, Psyence, United States
Initiative Vice-Chair: Julia Mirer, MD, Director of Strategy, NeuroPain Health, United States
Initiative Vice-Chair: Rick Doblin, Pdh, Founder & Executive Director, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), United States
If it seems the world is falling in love with psychedelics, it may be easy to understand why. Ground-breaking studies on these innovative medicines continue to make headlines in peer-reviewed journals from The New England Journal of Medicine to JAMA Psychiatry. And as FDA-approved clinical trials for psychedelic candidates move forward, positive results are informing decisions in policy and investment, building to a velocity of political will and clinical ambition.
This new cartography of healing reveals a path forward guided by a spirit of bipartisan concern and cooperation, a heightened collaboration with federal regulators and a continued focus on patient safety and evidence-based medicine. Daniel Goldberg, founder of Palo Santo, a venture capital fund investing in next-generation neuroscience companies developing breakthrough therapeutics for mental health, states: “Psychedelics may be America’s only bipartisan issue.”
TREND 1: YAY for the FDA
Despite the avant-garde counter-culture outlaw legacy long associated with psychedelics, most of those working in the field today see FDA-approved and regulated medicinal psychedelics as the best and most effective way to reach those most in need.
Daniel Goldberg of Palo Santo explains psychedelic medicines can be “effective and show great promise, and they are helping people today—but we believe that in order to create the scale and access to reach over a billion people in need, it will require true integration into our health care system.”
Goldberg acknowledges that “although our health care system is indeed flawed and sometimes very unfair, the broadest access to effective healthcare solutions will eventually need to include FDA-approved, safe, legal innovative medicines and therapies that are also reimbursable by insurance.” Goldberg observes: “Despite the headlines, the reality is that the FDA is very receptive, truly receptive, to novel psychedelic compounds.”
The numbers say it all. FDA “breakthrough therapy” designations, which grant expedited review, have been granted to eight psychedelic candidates under review:
- Compass for Comp 360 (Psilocybin)
- Usona for Psilocybin
- Cybin (now renamed Helus) for Cyb003 (Psilocybin analog)
- MindMed (now renamed Definium) for an LSD-based compound
- Lykos (now renamed Resilient Therapeutics) for MDMA
- Beckley Psytech (now renamed AtaiBeckley) for intranasal 5-MeO-DMT
- Transcend Therapeutics for TSND-201 (Methylone)
- Reunion for RE104 (Subcutaneous Luvesilocin)
NOTE: Spravato, the intranasal Ketamine (esketamin) therapy—J&J’s great success—earlier received an FDA breakthrough therapy designation. Analysts estimate its global sales will reach $2 billion in 2025.
Seven psychedelic candidate drugs have reached FDA Phase 3, the final stage before consideration for final approval:
- Comp360 (Psilocybin), the Compass candidate drug to treat Treatment-resistant Depression
- Psilocybin, the Usona candidate drug to treat Major Depressive Disorder
- Cyb003 (Psilocin analog) the Cybin (now renamed Helus) candidate drug to treat Major Depressive Disorder
- MM-120 (LSD-based compound) the MindMed (now renamed Definium) candidate drug to treat Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- MM-120 (LSD-based compound) the MindMed (now renamed Definium) candidate drug MM-120 to treat Major Depressive Disorder
- MDMA, the Lykos (now renamed Resilient Therapeutics) candidate drug to treat PTSD
- VN-100 (Ketamine) the Solvonis Therapeutics candidate drug to treat Severe Alcohol Use Disorder
TREND 2: Neuroplastogens – The Quiet Redefinition of Psychedelic Medicine
While classic psychedelics seem to blaze most of the headlines, a quiet next generation psychedelic category—the neuroplastogens—have begun to write the next chapter of psychedelic medicine.
“As 2026 begins, the psychedelic medicine conversation looks very different than it did even two years ago,” reports Madison Roberts in the news site Microdose Buzz. “The early focus on guided experiences, clinic based delivery and transformative subjective states has not disappeared, but it is no longer the center of gravity. Instead, a quieter and more technically demanding race is underway. Researchers and drug developers are now chasing the biological engine beneath psychedelics rather than the experience itself. That engine is neuroplasticity.” She adds: “Neuroplastogens, a growing class of small molecules designed to promote structural and functional changes in the brain, are becoming one of the most strategically important areas in neuropsychiatric drug development. These compounds aim to deliver the rapid and durable benefits associated with psychedelics while avoiding hallucinations, dissociation and the logistical complexity of supervised dosing.”
These non‑hallucinogenic psychedelic-adjacent compounds are an approach that may deliver a more rapid, just as durable mental‑health benefit seen with classic psychedelics such as psilocybin but without the trip, a longer clinic stay or many of the disqualifying pre-existing conditions that prohibit usage, according to The New Yorker in its March 2026 report.
The magazine chronicled the work of Professor David E. Olson, whose research has suggested that many psychedelic molecules—including psilocin, LSD, DMT and MDMA—can stimulate the growth of dendritic spines, the tiny, branch-like projections that help neurons connect.
According to The New Yorker, Olson has been able to demonstrate that it may be possible to incubate the dendritic growth and neuroplasticity that drives therapeutic change, enhancing plasticity but removing the hallucinations.
Delix Therapeutics, where Olson serves as co-founder and chief innovation officer, announced positive early clinical results for its pharmaceutical candidate, a “pioneering non‑hallucinogenic neuroplastogen.”
And the neuroplastogen biopharma ecosystem appears to be incubating its own form of “dendritic growth.” AbbVie’s multi‑billion‑dollar collaboration and subsequent asset deal with Gilgamesh is explicitly focused on “novel neuroplastogens” for psychiatric disorders, signaling that Big Pharma now sees plasticity‑first molecules as a strategic pillar of its neuroscience portfolio.
So does industry leader AtaiBeckley, which describes itself as “on a mission to transform patient outcomes by developing rapid-acting durable and convenient mental health treatments.”
AtaiBeckley, founded by global investor Christian Angermayer, has received up to $11.4 million in non‑dilutive NIH (NIDA) funding to develop non‑hallucinogenic 5‑HT2A/2C agonists for opioid use disorder, which industry experts see as a landmark affirmation of the promise of non‑hallucinogenic psychedelic medicines. According to a statement from the biopharma, this “recognition helps to establish atai as a leader in the non-hallucinogenic 5-HT2A agonist drug space and accelerates the timetable to bring these innovative treatments to patients suffering from addiction.”
Clearmind Medicine’s non-hallucinogenic neuroplastogen candidate to treat Alcohol Use Disorder, 5-MeO-AI (also known as MEAI) was recently named in bipartisan US federal legislation supporting veterans health. Under the guidance of the only woman CEO leading a psychedelic biopharma, Dr. Adi Zuloff-Shani, an elite portfolio of FDA-approved clinical trials for MEAI at the Yale School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has begun to report positive results.
Enveric Biosciences has secured patents on a new class of low‑hallucinogenic neuroplastogens and is advancing EB‑003, a non‑hallucinogenic DMT analogue designed for outpatient dosing in mood and anxiety disorders.
All this suggests that the center of gravity in psychedelic research is shifting from guided hallucinogenic experiences to a focus on the underlying biology of neuroplasticity. The promise is simple but profound: FDA-approved psychedelic pharmaceuticals that act quickly, with fewer adverse side effects, and that fit seamlessly into standard outpatient care—without the need for all‑day monitored sessions. All of which may contribute to an approach to ensuring scalability, affordability and greater health equity for all.
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TREND 3: Big Pharma Steps Up
By 2026, psychedelic medicine is no longer just a story of scrappy biotechs and visionary philanthropists; it is also a story of Big Pharma decisively stepping forward.
AbbVie, the world’s third biggest pharma, reported paying $1.2 billion to psychedelic biopharma Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals to acquire its Bretisilocin (GM‑2505) program, a short‑acting psychedelic candidate for major depressive disorder.
Industry analysis notes that the AbbVie deal can be framed as a cornerstone for its future psychiatry portfolio, and as a sign that major drugmakers now see psychedelic‑based medicines as serious business.
A commentary in Nature went further, describing AbbVie as “betting on psychedelic drugs” and highlighting that a top‑five global company is now building out a commercial roadmap for next‑generation psychedelic therapies.
AbbVie’s move is not happening in isolation. The Japanese biopharma Otsuka is also known for its early support of the psychedelic biopharma Compass Pathways, having invested in the Compass Series B round in 2019. Kabir Nath, CEO of Compass previously headed global pharmaceutical at Otsuka, as the senior managing director for that portfolio, is said to build synergy in the pharma community. Otsuka also purchased the psychedelic biopharma Mindset Pharma, and now has a proprietary psychedelic-based FDA Phase 2 candidate drug candidate under evaluation for Major Depressive Disorder.
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TREND 4: Psychedelics as a Bipartisan Bridge—for Veterans
Amid geopolitical tension and domestic polarization, psychedelic medicine has become perhaps the only bipartisan issue in Washington, DC, with veteran health at its heart. Suicide prevention, traumatic brain injury, treatment of PTSD and alcohol use disorder is on the agenda as is an open acknowledgement of the unwavering moral obligation to care for those who served.
And it has already sparked the beginning of a shift to improve mental healthcare for US veterans through supporting research into- and access to FDA-approved pharmaceutical psychedelic medicines.
The unlikely duo behind this initiative come from opposite sides of the aisle. General (Ret.) Jack Bergman, who served in the Marine Corps for 40 years, is the highest ranking combat veteran ever elected to congress. He is a Republican. His counterpart, Congressman Lou Correa, who represents a district in California, is a Democrat.
Yet despite an atmosphere of increasingly fractured political polarization and partisanship in the nation’s capital, this pair of US Congressmen have teamed up to co-chair the first Congressional psychedelic caucus, called PATH (Psychedelics Advancing Therapies).
The two have spearheaded legislation to direct the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand clinical trials and establish a national investigational research and extended access/compassionate use treatment program utilizing innovative treatments and emerging therapies to address conditions facing veterans with urgent unmet medical needs. These include PTSD, traumatic brain injury, depression, substance use disorders and chronic pain. The two have also introduced legislation to establish five VA Centers of excellence with a focus on psychedelic medicine.
Melissa Lavasani, CEO of the nonprofit Psychedelic Medicine Coalition, welcomes the focus on seeking evidence-based psychedelic medicine therapies. Lavasani has termed this a “mindshift in the future of mental health in America.” Noted Lavasani, the Veterans Health Administration is America’s largest integrated health care system, with 9 million patients, as many as 400,000 in staff and over 170 medical centers and 1,000-plus outpatient sites. Lavasani added the focus on veteran mental health is “more than policy proposals—it’s a blueprint for a new era of mental health care in the United States.” She added: “By working together to help our veterans, we have the chance to create a healthier and happier nation for all.”
The US Senate is now moving to support this initiative. Psychedelic innovation and mental health treatments for veterans take another step forward as US Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and US Senator David McCormick (R-PA) introduce the Innovative Therapies Centers of Excellence Act in the US Senate in March of 2026.
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TREND 5: Developing a Psychedelic Workforce
With FDA approvals for psychedelic medicine candidates expected in 2027, the need for psychedelic-informed healthcare workers to treat patients before, during and after psychedelic therapy means that training and education is already underway.
Fluence, the leading educators in the field, are already working with clinicians. Elizabeth Nielson, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Fluence, is recognized as the field’s voice for professional education and its conscience. Dr. Nielson describes Fluence’s curriculum and training as “transforming how psychedelic‑assisted therapy is taught, delivered and integrated into modern clinical care,” for physicians, psychotherapists, other prescribers and wellness professionals.
Since its founding in 2019, Fluence has educated over 8,000 therapists and professionals through its continuing education programs, in collaboration with leading drug developers and psychedelic biopharmas in the psychedelic therapy field. Dr. Nielson notes that therapists who enroll with Fluence for education in psychedelic therapy are increasingly “seeking programs that emphasize a rigorous, ethical and safety-focused approach at every stage of use.”
As psychedelics become more accessible and widely used in medicine, Fluence is widely acknowledged as playing a crucial role in meeting workforce development needs. Fluence equips clinicians, coaches and industry professionals with high-quality education in psychedelic therapy. As the regulatory landscape continues to evolve, high-quality training must be grounded in best practices and designed to help practitioners remain compliant with current laws and professional standards.
Globally, Otsuka and Keio University’s work on professional‑development systems for psychiatrists and psychologists—explicitly focused on preparing clinicians to deliver psychedelic therapies in Japan—shows that workforce planning is now being written into research partnerships and policy design.
This emphasis on systems, rather than a single molecule, hints at a future where Big Pharma’s role is not only to develop psychedelic‑class drugs, but to help architect the regulatory, training and reimbursement frameworks that will govern their use.
An emphasis on accreditation is the focus of the Psychedelic Medicine Association, led by physician and jurist Lynn-Marie Morski, MD/JD. Dr. Morski is spearheading this effort because, she says, “one of the biggest barriers to integrating psychedelic medicine into the current medical model [is] accreditation.”
Dr. Morski notes, “Right now, there is no standardized baseline for what it means to be a ‘trained’ psychedelic therapist. Programs offer certifications, but patients have no way of knowing what those certifications actually represent, as training programs vary widely.”
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TREND 6: Ibogaine? Texas‑Size Ambition, but Cardiac‑Size Caution
Few psychedelic‑adjacent medicines embody both promise and peril as vividly as ibogaine. In 2026, the global conversation is shaped by two opposing forces: Texas‑style ambition on one side, and a growing cardiology caution on the other.
Texas “awarded $50 million to a collective of public universities across the state to establish the Texas Ibogaine Research Consortium. The funding, authorized by the state legislature after last year’s passage of the Texas Ibogaine Initiative,” launched a “comprehensive, statewide clinical trial initiative known as Ibogaine Medicine for PTSD, Addiction and Cognitive Trauma (IMPACT),” according to Jack Gorsline in Lucid News.
He notes: “The two-year, multicenter project aims to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ibogaine—a powerful psychoactive alkaloid derived from the West African iboga shrub—in treating some of the state’s most pressing behavioral health challenges, including opioid dependency and traumatic brain injury (TBI).”
At the same time, science is raising red flags. A February 2026 scoping review of ibogaine’s therapeutic potential and cardiac safety concluded that ibogaine can block the hERG potassium channel, prolong the QT interval and trigger malignant ventricular arrhythmias—risks that have been linked to sudden deaths in both clinical and non‑clinical settings. The authors argue that ibogaine’s narrow therapeutic window demands meticulous screening, monitoring and risk‑mitigation strategies if it is to be used responsibly, and they stress the need to weigh its benefits against existing high‑risk treatments such as methadone with low rates of remission high rates of relapse.
Ibogaine’s 2026 story offers a powerful cautionary tale: breakthrough outcomes, especially for people facing addiction and TBI, may coexist with non‑trivial mortality risk. The questions now being asked go beyond simply “Does ibogaine work?” but “How can we design systems and standards that make its use as safe, effective and equitable as possible?”
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TREND 7: Doors of Perception Opens Doors to the White House
Perhaps the clearest sign that psychedelic medicine has entered a new era was when the White House livestreamed a cabinet meeting in which Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, replied to President Trump’s concern about the the veteran suicide rate by stating: “We’re working with Secretary Kennedy … on the possibility of psychedelic treatment.” Collins, who is himself a combat veteran and former congressman, has said the VA is “actively conducting about a dozen clinical trials into various different substances” such as MDMA and psilocybin.” Secretary Collins has also made a personal visit to an MDMA trial site at a VA health center in the Bronx.
That psychedelics ever made their way to the level of a cabinet meeting in a Republican White House is widely attributed to the work of Rick Doblin, PhD, founder of MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychiatric Studies. Doblin, who serves the Global Wellness Institute’s Psychedelics & Healing Initiative’s Honorary Chairman is a tireless advocate for evidence-based scientific research. Doblin’s achievement, as chronicled in the New York Times headline “The Psychedelic Revolution is Coming. Psychiatry May Never be the Same,” is said to have destigmatized psychedelics by cross-pollinating breakthroughs that benefit military veterans and psychiatric patients alike.
Doblin’s uniquely non-partisan and politically agnostic approach has won support across the policy spectrum, from alternative soap scion David Bronner to the right-wing libertarian Koch family.
So it is perhaps no surprise that in addition to the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—an outspoken advocate for psychedelic research—as Secretary of Health and Human Services, the nominee for next US Surgeon General, Casey Means, MD, has written about and publicly discussed therapeutic psychedelic mushroom experiences. Dr. Means has also suggested that psychedelics may be healing for some patients, even as she acknowledges current legal constraints and the need for continued research.
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