Mydecine, Top Johns Hopkins Researcher Partner on Study of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy for Smoking Cessation

Biopharmaceutical firm Mydecine Innovations Group announced this week that it has partnered with Matthew Johnson, PhD, on a study to evaluate the use of Mydecine’s MYCO-001 compound as part of a smoking cessation program for individuals addicted to nicotine.

Johnson is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins and the current president of the International Society for Research on Psychdelics, an organization which he co-founded.

The Phase 2/3 clinical trial is slated to launch in the first quarter of 2022 and will measure results at 3 months and 6 months, building on Johnson’s current research on the use of psychedelics for smoking cessation.

A 2014 Johns Hopkins study of a psilocybin-assisted smoking cessation program led by Johnson—the first published study on psychedelic treatment of tobacco addiction—showed an 80% abstinence rate after 6 months, and the center is currently conducting a study comparing the use of a transdermal nicotine patch and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) vs. psilocybin and CBT.

“Current clinical data coming out of Johns Hopkins on the ongoing smoking cessation study is showing 12-month efficacy rates significantly higher than today’s gold standard with drastically increased safety profiles,” Mydecine CEO Josh Bartch said in a news release. “We have been diligently working with the teams at Hopkins, Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation, The Weinberg Group, and ethica CRO to design the planned study.”

Bartch added that the company believes there is a “high likelihood” that MYCO-001 will receive breakthrough therapy status for smoking cessation.