A short-acting psychedelic intervention for major depressive disorder: a phase IIa randomized placebo-controlled trial
If the company itself shelved this product, what does that say about the commercial rather than clinical readout of these results?
Reasonable evidence with real limitations. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: Sponsor-employee coauthors and shareholders; N=34; the 3-month durability claim comes from an uncontrolled open-label phase.
DMT analogs only (intranasal 5-MeO-DMT, buccal DMT) are in phase 2; no FDA program exists for ayahuasca itself.
In 34 adults with moderate-to-severe MDD, a single 10-minute IV infusion of DMT (SPL026) with psychological support reduced MADRS at 2 weeks by 7.35 points more than placebo (P=0.023), with effects persisting to 3 months in the open-label extension; the developer is not advancing this exact formulation.
Worth asking
If the company itself shelved this product, what does that say about the commercial rather than clinical readout of these results?
Source
A short-acting psychedelic intervention for major depressive disorder: a phase IIa randomized placebo-controlled trial — Erritzoe D, et al. (2026)
Reputable peer-reviewed journal
Read the source: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-04154-z
DOI: 10.1038/s41591-025-04154-z
How this was scored
- Study design
- Randomised controlled trial
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
- Published in
- Reputable peer-reviewed journal
- Sample size
- 34
- Preregistered
- Yes
- Conflicts disclosed
- Yes
- Independent of proponent
- No
- Retracted
- No
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published August 19, 2026.
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
Resolv rates this source "moderate evidence". Reasonable evidence with real limitations. It scores 62 out of 100 on our published rubric. One caveat travels with that badge: Sponsor-employee coauthors and shareholders; N=34; the 3-month durability claim comes from an uncontrolled open-label phase. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
A short-acting psychedelic intervention for major depressive disorder: a phase IIa randomized placebo-controlled trial — Erritzoe D, et al. (2026). Published in: Reputable peer-reviewed journal. DOI: 10.1038/s41591-025-04154-z. The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Who paid for this research, and does that matter?
Study design: Randomised controlled trial. Funding: Funding not disclosed. The researchers were not independent of whoever benefits from the result. Industry sponsorship is one of the most reliably measured biases in medicine, which is why funding carries real weight in the score rather than sitting in a footnote.
Is dmt, spl026 FDA approved for this use?
No. Its current status is: Phase 2 trials. DMT analogs only (intranasal 5-MeO-DMT, buccal DMT) are in phase 2; no FDA program exists for ayahuasca itself.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.