Arizona Awarding $5M in Grant Money for Psilocybin Clinical Trials
An Arizona Psilocybin Research Advisory Council (the “Council”), which was established under the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) as part of a large-scale budget bill that the governor signed in May, was set to meet for the first time on Tuesday, November 28th, to start the process of providing millions of dollars of grant funding to support research into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms. In less than a month’s time, officials plan to open an application period for potential grant recipients.
The state legislature has appropriated $5 million for psilocybin research, focused on clinical trials that are meant to identify therapeutic applications that could receive federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the treatment of 13 listed conditions, including, but not limited to, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety disorders, symptoms associated with long COVID, substance abuse and addiction disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, and eating disorders.
John Garcia, Program Director of the Arizona Biomedical Research Centre (ABRC), under the ADHS, said in a notice published last week, on November 24th, that the division plans to begin accepting grant applications in approximately thirty days from the publication of the notice to conduct clinical trials on the efficacy of psilocybin whole mushrooms on various conditions, disorders, and diseases. “Any clinical trials that are funded pursuant to this announcement and subsequent grant solicitation shall prioritize: using whole mushroom psilocybin cultivated under a Schedule I license for research, issued by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration; and using veterans, first responders, frontline health care workers and persons from underserved communities as the research subjects,” Garcia said.
A team of peer reviewers must then consider research grant applications and submit their recommendations to the Council by February 1, 2024.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Council was set to consider the timeline for grant application approvals, the scope of services for psilocybin clinical trials, and some other administrative matters. The notice provided that the function of the Council is to “establish criteria for the clinical trials that qualify to receive research grants; oversee the application process and review applications for the clinical trial research grants; to assist the director in selecting the most credible clinical trials to award the research grants; and ensure that all advisory council meetings are open to the public and to allow for public testimony.”
Please see the following for the full notice: https://deal.town/az-dept-of-health/30-day-notice-to-open-grant-solicitation-for-psilocybin-clinical-trials-grants-PKLEV4ZPE.
