# Psychedelic Eased Symptoms of Treatment-Resistant Depression

- URL: https://theranews.net/blog/2026-03-27-psychedelic-eased-symptoms-of-treatment-resistant-depression-4c963b/
- Published: 2026-03-27
- Type: Archive summary (AI-assisted summary of third-party reporting)
- Original outlet: medpagetoday
- Original report: https://www.medpagetoday.com/psychiatry/depression/120489
- Topics: depression
- Publisher: TheraNews, operated by AdvancedCare USA Inc.
- Notice: Educational content, not medical, legal, billing or financial advice. Cite the original outlet, not this summary.

> (MedPage Today) -- An individualized dosing regimen of the inhaled psychedelic mebufotenin (GH001) led to significant improvements in depression symptoms in patients with treatment-resistant depression, a randomized placebo-controlled trial showed...

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A randomized placebo-controlled trial demonstrates significant benefits of an inhaled psychedelic treatment for patients with treatment-resistant depression. GH001, also known as mebufotenin, showed rapid effectiveness with minimal side effects in a single-day treatment regimen among 81 patients.

## Rapid symptom improvement with high remission rates

Among 81 patients, a single day of GH001 treatment led to a least squares mean change in Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale score of -15.2 from baseline to day 8, compared with 0.3 with placebo (least squares mean difference -15.5, P<0.001). Day 8 remission rates reached 57.5% with GH001 versus 0% with placebo. No severe or serious adverse events were reported during the placebo-controlled period. The research is particularly significant because fewer than half of patients with major depressive disorder achieve remission with standard antidepressants, and few treatments for treatment-resistant depression—defined as non-response to two to five oral antidepressants—are currently approved in the United States.

## Practical advantages over existing psychedelic treatments

The median length of psychoactive effect ranged from 9 to 14 minutes for 6-, 12-, and 18-mg doses of GH001. This short duration presents practical advantages: clinicians would not need to provide all-day monitoring as required with psilocybin, which produces effects lasting approximately 6 hours. Treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in 72.5% of patients who received GH001 versus 7.3% of those given placebo. The most common events in the active drug arm were nausea (42.5%), salivary hypersecretion (20%), paresthesia (20%), dysgeusia (7.5%), and headache (7.5%).

## Study design and future directions

This 7-day double-blind phase IIb trial with a 6-month open-label extension was conducted at 16 sites in Europe from May 2023 to March 2025. Patients ages 18 to 64 with treatment-resistant depression and current episode duration of up to 2 years were eligible. In the GH001 arm, mean age was 41.6 with 60% women, and baseline characteristics were similar between groups. The researchers found no evidence of treatment-emergent worsening of suicidal ideation, psychotic symptoms, or dissociation at discharge. The authors plan to explore longer-term efficacy and safety of GH001 in future studies.

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*This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: [https://www.medpagetoday.com/psychiatry/depression/120489](https://www.medpagetoday.com/psychiatry/depression/120489)*