Psilocybin-assisted Therapy for Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder

The QUANTUM Trip Trial - Psilocybin-assisted Therapy for Reducing Alcohol Intake in Patients With Alcohol Use Disorder: A Randomized, Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial.

Note: The trial is only eligible for citizens of Denmark.

The purpose of this project is to assess the treatment efficacy of a single high dose of psilocybin administered within a protocol of psychological support to patients diagnosed with alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Alcohol Use Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Psilocybin; Drug: Maltodextrin

Detailed Description

To establish efficacy, we will investigate a single dose of psilocybin versus placebo in a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled 12 weeks clinical trial. 90 patients, aged 20-70 years, diagnosed with alcohol use disorder and treatment seeking will be recruited from the community via advertisement and referrals from general practitioners and hospital units. The psilocybin or placebo is administered within a protocol of psychological support before, during and after the dosing. Outcome assessments will be carried out one, four, eight- and 12 weeks post dosing. The primary outcome is reduction in the percentage of heavy drinking days from baseline to follow-up at 12 weeks. Key secondary outcomes include 1) phosphatidyl-ethanol as an objective biomarker for alcohol consumption 2) plasma psilocin, the active metabolite, to establish a possible therapeutic range and 3) the acute subjective drug experience as a possible predictor of treatment outcome. Furthermore, we will investigate the neurobiological underpinnings of the possible treatment effects by use of functional magnetic resonance brain imaging one week post dosing.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 60
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Denmark
  • Frederiksberg, Denmark, 2000
    • Psychiatric Center Copenhagen, Frederiksberg Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 16 years to 66 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Bodyweight of 50-110 kg
• AUD according to DSM-5 criteria and alcohol dependence according to ICD-10.
• AUD Identification Test (AUDIT) ≥ 15.
• ≥ 5 heavy drinking days in the past 28 days prior to inclusion.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Current or previously diagnosed with any psychotic disorder or bipolar affective disorder.
• Immediate family member with a diagnosed psychotic disorder.
• History of delirium tremens or alcohol withdrawal seizures.
• History of suicide attempt or present suicidal ideation at screening.
• Withdrawal symptoms at screening (>nine on the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment of Alcohol Scale, Revised (CIWA-Ar) (43).
• Present or former severe neurological disease including trauma with loss of consciousness > 30 min.
• Impaired hepatic function (alanine transaminase >210/135 units/l men/women)
• Cardiovascular disease defined as decompensated heart failure (NYHA class III or IV), unstable angina pectoris, myocardial infarction within the last 12 months or uncontrolled hypertension (systolic blood pressure >165 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure >95 mmHg).
• Present or former abnormal QTc (>450/470 ms men/women).
• Treatment with disulfiram, naltrexone, acamprosate and nalmefene within 28 days of inclusion.
• Treatment with any serotonergic medication or drugs within one month prior inclusion.
• Any oOther active substance use disorders (except nicotine) defined as a Drug Use Disorder Identification Test score >six/two (men/women) and investigator's clinical evaluation.
• Women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or intend to become pregnant or are not using adequate contraceptive measures considered highly effective (44).
• Unable to speak or understand Danish.
• Any other condition that the clinician estimates can interfere with trial participation.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Quadruple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Psilocybin-assisted therapy; 45 patients will receive a single administration of 25mg psilocybin given in a protocol of psychological support before, during and after dosing.	Drug: Psilocybin; Psilocybin-assisted therapy
Placebo Comparator: Placebo-assisted therapy; 45 patients will receive a single administration of placebo (lactose) given in a protocol of psychological support before, during and after dosing.	Drug: Maltodextrin; Placebo-assisted therapy

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in percentage of heavy drinking days	Heavy drinking is defined as days with five drinks/60 grams of alcohol or more for men, four drinks/48 grams of alcohol or more for women. Data will be collected using the Timeline Followback Method (TLFB) which is a widely used, calendar-based retrospective measure of self-reported use of alcohol. The number of days drinking assessed is 28 days.	Baseline to week 12

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in total alcohol consumption	Total grams of alcohol consumed per day as measured by TLFB.	Baseline to week 12
Change in days of abstinence	Percentage of days without any alcohol consumption as measured by TLFB.	Baseline to week 12
Change in phosphatidyl-ethanol (PEth)	PEth is formed only in the presence of alcohol and is correlated with the amount of alcohol consumed the past month. PEth concentrations will be measured by peripheral blood test.	Baseline to week 12
Change in Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)	AUDIT is a 10-item questionnaire that measures alcohol use. The score range is 0-40, with higher scores indicating a more problematic use of alcohol.	Baseline to week 12
Change in Penn Alcohol Craving Scale (PACS) score	PACS is a 40-item questionnaire that measures alcohol craving severity. The score range is 0-30, with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms.	Baseline to week 12
Change in Alcohol Abstinence Self-efficacy Scale (AASE) score	AASE is a 40-item questionnaire that measures two scales: the temptation to drink and the confidence in the ability to avoid drinking. The score range for each scale is 0-80, with higher score indicating greater temptation or confidence, respectively.	Baseline to week 12
Change in Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND)	FTND is a 6-item questionnaire that measures the quantity of cigarette consumption, the compulsion to use, and dependence. The score range is 0-10, with higher scores indicating a more severe dependence.	Baseline to week 12
Change in Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT)	DUDIT is an 11-item questionnaire that measures drug use. The score range is 0-44, with higher scores indication a more problematic use.	Baseline to week 12
Change in Major Depression Inventory (MDI)	MDI is a 12-item questionnaire that measures depression severity. The score range is 0-50, with higher scores indicating greater severity.	Baseline to week 12
Change in Short-Form 36 (SF-36)	SF-36 is a 36-item questionnaire that measures the quality-of-life. The score range is 0-100, with higher scores indicating better health status.	Baseline to week 12
Change in Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)	MAAS is a 15-item scale that measures core characteristic of mindfulness. The score range is 1-6, with higher scores indicating greater mindfulness.	Baseline to week 12
Change in Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ)	AAQ is a 7-item questionnaire that measures psychological flexibility. The score range is 7-49, with higher scores indicating lesser flexibility.	Baseline to week 12
Change in NEO-Personality Inventory (NEO-PI=	The NEO-PI is a 240-item personality instrument that measures the five factors in the Five Factor Model. It consists of 30 eight-item facet scales, 6 for each of the five basic personality factors: Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E), Openness (O), Agreeableness (A), and Conscientiousness (C), rated by use of a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree.	Baseline to week 12
Persisting Effects Questionnaire (PEQ)	PEQ is a 143-item scale aiming to assess changes in attitudes, moods, behavior, and spiritual experience	Week 12
Neuroplasticity and inflammation	Neuroplasticity and inflammation as measured by mean concentrations of plasma serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and plasma cytokines, respectively.	Baseline to week 12
Subjective effects of psilocybin: Subjective Drug Intensity (SDI)	SDI will be regularly assessed asking the patients "how intense is the experience right now" on a 0-10 Likert scale where 0 = not intense at all, 10 = very intense.	0-6 hours post dosing
Pharmacokinetics- and dynamics of psilocybin	Pharmacokinetics- and dynamics of plasma psilocin, serum BDNF and plasma cytokines, as determined by concentration-time curves of mean plasma concentrations	0 - 6 hours post dosing
Subjective effects of psilocybin: Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ)	MEQ is a 30-item questionnaire that measures experiential aspects of psilocybin. The patients are asked to rate the items on a 6-point scale going from 0= none; not at all to 5=extreme; more than ever before in my life and stronger than 4.	Completed once the effects are fully subsided or at least 6 hours after dosing
Subjective effects of psilocybin: 5-Dimensional Altered State of Consciousness scale (5D-ASC)	5D-ASC is a 94-item questionnaire that measures experiential aspects of psilocybin. The patients are asked to rate the items by placing marks on a horizontal visual analogue scale (100 millimeters in length) going from "no, not more than usual" (on the left) to "yes, very much more than usual" (on the right).	Completed once the effects are fully subsided or at least 6 hours after dosing
Subjective effects of psilocybin: Ego Dissolution Inventory (EDI)	EDI is a 8-item questionnaire that measures the experiential aspects of psilocybin. The patients are asked to rate the items by placing marks on a horizontal visual analogue scale (100 millimeters in length) going from "no, not more than usual" (on the left) to "yes, very much more than usual" (on the right).	Completed once the effects are fully subsided or at least 6 hours after dosing
Subjective effects of psilocybin: Emotional Breakthrough Inventory (EBI)	EBI is a 6-item questionnaire that measures the experiential aspects of psilocybin. The patients are asked to rate the items by placing marks on a horizontal visual analogue scale (100 millimeters in length) going from "no, not more than usual" (on the left) to "yes, very much more than usual" (on the right).	Completed once the effects are fully subsided or at least 6 hours after dosing
Subjective effects of psilocybin: Awe Experience Scale (AWE-S)	AWE-S is a 30-item questionnaire that measures the experiential aspects of psilocybin. The patients are asked to rate the items on a 7-point scale going from 1= Strongly Disagree to 7= Strongly Agree.	Completed once the effects are fully subsided or at least 6 hours after dosing
Brain imaging	The blood-oxygen-level-dependent differences between the two treatment arms with respect to resting-state functional connectivity, alcohol vs neutral cue-reactivity within mesocorticolimbic pathways and habitual vs goal-directed activity within corticostriatal pathways	1 week post dosing

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Role of the Music I	We will explore the role of the music in psilocybin-assisted therapy by use of the questionnaires Experience with Music and Geneva Emotional Music Scale	before and after dosing
Role of the Music II	We will explore the role of the music in psilocybin-assisted therapy by qualitative semi-structured interview	week 4
Treatment expectancies	The Stanford Expectations of Treatment Scale is a 6 item a scale that measures positive and negative treatment expectancies using a Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree)	Baseline
Optional long-term follow-ups	Patients may consent to post-trial follow-up to explore the long-term effects on drinking outcomes using TLFB adjusted for current or previous treatments since completing the trial.	week 26 and week 52

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Anders Fink-Jensen, MD, DMSci
• Collaborators: The Neurobiology Research Unit at Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Anders Fink-Jensen, Professor, Psychiatric Center Copenhagen, Frederiksberg Hospital

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Jensen ME, Stenbaek DS, Juul TS, Fisher PM, Ekstrom CT, Knudsen GM, Fink-Jensen A. Psilocybin-assisted therapy for reducing alcohol intake in patients with alcohol use disorder: protocol for a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled 12-week clinical trial (The QUANTUM Trip Trial). BMJ Open. 2022 Oct 14;12(10):e066019. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-066019.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 22, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): December 22, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 30, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 8, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): June 13, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 24, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 20, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: alcohol dependence; addiction; randomized controlled trial; psilocybin; brain imaging
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Alcohol-Related Disorders; Compulsive Behavior; Impulsive Behavior; Behavior; Alcoholism; Behavior, Addictive; Heterocyclic Compounds; Heterocyclic Compounds, 2-Ring; Heterocyclic Compounds, Fused-Ring; Alkaloids; Indoles; Indole Alkaloids; Indolizidines; Indolizines; Tryptamines; Psilocybin; maltodextrin
• Other Study ID Numbers: PSILO4ALCO-TRIAL

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: All of the individual participant data collected during the trial, after deidentification.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Immediately following publication. No end date.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Researchers who provide a methodologically sound proposal.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No