MDMA Therapy Papers Retracted Amid Ethical Concerns At Lykos Study Site
In a significant development in the field of psychedelic medicine, the journal Psychopharmacology has retracted three research papers on MDMA-assisted therapy due to what it described as unethical conduct at one of the study sites. As New York Times reported, the retraction has cast a shadow over Lykos Therapeutics, the company involved in the studies, whose recent application for MDMA-assisted therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was rejected by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Retraction Linked To Ethical Breach
The papers in question involve several authors affiliated with Lykos Therapeutics, a company formed by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) to commercialize its proprietary MDMA-assisted therapy. The unethical conduct cited by Psychopharmacology relates to an incident in 2015, where an unlicensed Canadian therapist, who was part of the trial, engaged in a sexual relationship with a participant after the trial’s dosing sessions had concluded.
According to court documents, the participant, Meaghan Buisson, later accused the therapist, Richard …