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Researchers to Study Use of Ibogaine to Treat Methadone Withdrawal Symptoms
ICEERS—the International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research, and Service—an international, not-for-profit organization “dedicated to transforming society’s relationship with psychedelic plants,” announced that it has partnered with Sant Joan de Reus University Hospital in Catalonia, Spain, to conduct a Phase II randomized clinical trial of a novel ibogaine treatment protocol to support patients tapering off methadone.
The study, which will include 20 participants, is being led by Jose Carlos Bouso, PhD, ICEERS scientific director, and Tre Boras, MD, a psychiatrist and head of drug dependence services at Sant Joan Hospital.
Despite its benefits as an opioid substitution therapy in treating individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD), its use can result in significant withdrawal symptoms in patients attempting to wean from it.
“Methadone is very difficult to detox from,” ICEERS wrote in a news release announcing the trial. “Therefore, if the protocol we will be employing is successful in supporting participants to detox from methadone using ibogaine, this will provide evidence to support its application with shorter acting opioids, such as heroin.”
Researchers will use a standardized protocol in which methadone doses will be progressively reduced as low to mid doses of ibogaine will be administered to treat withdrawal symptoms. The 20 participants will be divided into 2 groups: a group that receives 6 doses of ibogaine at 100 mg each, and a group that receives 6 doses that start with 100 mg and increase by 100 mg with each subsequent dose.
“Clinical research findings are essential for creating a pathway for policy change and increasing access to ibogaine as a treatment for substance use dependencies,” ICEERS wrote in its release. “It is the hope that this study will be an important contribution to the long-awaited acknowledgement of ibogaine’s medical properties.”
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