5-MeO-DMT draws pharmaceutical industry race for blockbuster drug

The Race to Commercialize the World’s Most Powerful Psychedelic

• Pharmaceutical companies are racing to turn 5-MeO-DMT, an obscure and extremely powerful psychedelic, into a commercially available treatment for severe mental health disorders.
• The drug is already being used at unregulated clinics while biotech firms bet it could become a billion-dollar blockbuster drug.
• Companies are targeting depression, anxiety and PTSD, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Unregulated clinics already use 5-MeO-DMT as companies seek FDA approval

The Wall Street Journal reported that 5-MeO-DMT — a psychedelic described as obscure and extremely powerful — has drawn intense interest from pharmaceutical companies that see it as a potential treatment for depression, anxiety and PTSD. Biotech firms are racing to develop it into a commercially available drug.

According to the Journal, companies are betting the substance could soon become a billion-dollar blockbuster. At the same time, the psychedelic is already being used at unregulated clinics, a setting that WSJ described in its coverage.

The development follows a pattern seen with other psychedelics, where compounds once used outside formal medical settings are now the subject of clinical research.