Psilocybin therapy has shown promise in improving psycho-spiritual wellbeing in patients with life-threatening cancer, as demonstrated by Griffiths et al. (2016), Shnayder et al. (2023), and others.
But the consortium are keen to highlight that the study is the first clinical trial to investigate the safety and efficacy of psilocybin in non-oncology palliatively treated patients.
Robert Schoevers, UMGC head of psychiatry, and principal investigator of the multi-site study, said: “We are eager to see if we can ease the suffering of these patients whilst also examining longer-term patient and family outcomes of this treatment, something that often gets overlooked but that is of enormous importance.”
It will hope to achieve these broader goals by using peer support and online tools, aiming to enhance participants’ coping mechanisms. This is consistent with a strong focus on post-trial support, according to those close to the project.
“Many people have remaining questions about the meaning of their experience” following psychedelic therapies, Breeksema told us, and can find themselves “isolated following the conclusion of a trial.”
The study will also seek to assess the cost-effectiveness of the intervention with mind to costs and benefits levied at the patient, healthcare system and societal levels. All of this work could contribute to a smoother future roll-out of psychedelic therapies across the bloc.
“This project holds significance beyond the clinical study” Tadeusz Hawrot, Founder and Executive Director of the Psychedelic Access and Research European Alliance (PAREA), told Psychedelic Alpha. “I see it as paving the way for the entire field of psychedelic therapies.”
“For example, PsyPal will create a best practice manual for psilocybin therapy in palliative care and establish a training model for therapists”, he continued, adding that PsyPal “is laying the groundwork for European standards in psychedelic treatments more broadly, something we should start working on now.”