Tolerability of MDMA in Schizophrenia (TMS)

Impaired social motivation, or "asociality," is a negative symptom of schizophrenia (SCZ) and a cause of significant functional impairment in the illness. Whereas many symptoms of schizophrenia can be treated with antipsychotic medications, deficits in social motivation persist, leading to significant social disability in patients. There is currently no effective treatment for this symptom of the illness. One promising and unexplored avenue to enhance social motivation in schizophrenia is ± 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). MDMA is a psychostimulant that shares some pharmacological properties with amphetamines, but in addition, has pronounced pro-social effects, increasing the motivation to engage socially. In healthy volunteers, it produces feelings of empathy and closeness with others and increases attention to positive social cues, perhaps partly through its effects on the social bonding hormone, oxytocin. MDMA has shown promise in other psychiatric conditions such as PTSD. Thus, MDMA could offer a unique therapeutic benefit in patients with SCZ who suffer from impaired social motivation. The investigators plan to take the first step in testing MDMA as a treatment for these social deficits by testing the tolerability of the drug in patients with SCZ. This will be an open-label, ascending-dose, within-subject trial in which participants will receive 40mg, 80mg, or 120mg of MDMA. The doses will be administered in ascending order, but doses will be stopped if subjects experience moderate or greater psychotic symptoms at 24 hours. This trial will assess the tolerability of the drug in this population and guide in the selection of a maximum well-tolerated dose for future studies. The primary tolerability measure will be clinician-rated psychotic symptoms (disorganized speech, delusions, hallucinations) collected at 24 hours after MDMA administration. The results of this project will lay the foundation for further investigations of MDMA and other psychoactive compounds as a treatment for debilitating and difficult-to-treat social deficits in schizophrenia. Future studies will examine interactions between the effects of psychoactive compounds and nonpharmacologic psychosocial interventions targeting social symptoms.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Schizophrenia
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: MDMA 40mg; Drug: MDMA 80mg; Drug: MDMA 120mg

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 20
• Phase: Phase 2; Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Gerard De Vera; Phone Number: 310-794-5577; Email: gdevera@mednet.ucla.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90025
      • Recruiting
      • UCLA
      • Contact: Gerard De Vera; Phone Number: 310-794-5577; Email: gdevera@mednet.ucla.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 60 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Ages 18-60
• able to understand spoken English sufficiently to comprehend testing procedures
• DSM-5 diagnosis of schizophrenia, based on clinical interview
• clinical stability (i.e., no inpatient hospitalizations for six months prior to enrollment, no changes in medication in for 6 months prior to enrollment)

Exclusion Criteria:

• no history of aggressive or suicidal behavior while psychotic
• no history of IQ less than 70 or developmental disability, based on medical history
• no clinically significant neurological disease (e.g., epilepsy), or cardiovascular condition (e.g. cardiac arrhythmia) based on medical history
• no history of serious head injury (i.e., loss of consciousness longer than 1 hour, neuropsychological sequelae, cognitive rehabilitation treatment after head injury) based on medical history
• no substance or alcohol use disorder in the past six months
• no sedatives or benzodiazepines within 24 hours of testing
• no positive urine toxicology screen or visible intoxication on the day of assessment
• no women who are pregnant or think that they might be pregnant, based on self-report and urine test
• not currently taking SSRIs or SNRIs
• no history of NMS or serotonin syndrome
• No prolongation of the QTc interval on EKG

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: MDMA; Each subject will receive 3 doses of MDMA in ascending order: 40mg, 80mg, 120mg.	Drug: MDMA 40mg; MDMA 40mg; Drug: MDMA 80mg; MDMA 80mg; Drug: MDMA 120mg; MDMA 120mg

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS): Disorganized speech.	The PANSS is a validated 30-item clinician-administered scale assessing symptom severity in SCZ. It is widely used to assess the efficacy of antipsychotic medications. Symptoms are rated from 1 (not present) to 7 (extremely severe). The PANSS will be administered at the first session, before drug administration at each drug session, and 24 hours after each drug session. Our primary tolerability outcome measure will be clinician-rated psychotic symptoms on the three core DSM-V symptoms of psychosis (disorganized speech, delusions, hallucinations) on the PANSS 24 hours after each drug session. This is the item assessing disorganized speech.	24 hours after each drug session
Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS): Delusions	The PANSS is a validated 30-item clinician-administered scale assessing symptom severity in SCZ. It is widely used to assess the efficacy of antipsychotic medications. Symptoms are rated from 1 (not present) to 7 (extremely severe). The PANSS will be administered at the first session, before drug administration at each drug session, and 24 hours after each drug session. Our primary tolerability outcome measure will be clinician-rated psychotic symptoms on the three core DSM-V symptoms of psychosis (disorganized speech, delusions, hallucinations) on the PANSS 24 hours after each drug session. This is the item assessing delusions.	24 hours after each drug session
Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS): Hallucinations	The PANSS is a validated 30-item clinician-administered scale assessing symptom severity in SCZ. It is widely used to assess the efficacy of antipsychotic medications. Symptoms are rated from 1 (not present) to 7 (extremely severe). The PANSS will be administered at the first session, before drug administration at each drug session, and 24 hours after each drug session. Our primary tolerability outcome measure will be clinician-rated psychotic symptoms on the three core DSM-V symptoms of psychosis (disorganized speech, delusions, hallucinations) on the PANSS 24 hours after each drug session. This is the item assessing hallucinations.	24 hours after each drug session

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Anya Bershad, MD, PhD
• Collaborators: National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): March 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): March 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 21, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 3, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): March 15, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 18, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 17, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders; Mental Disorders; Schizophrenia; Organic Chemicals; Amines; Phenethylamines; Ethylamines; Amphetamines; N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine
• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB#22-001600; 1DP5OD036172-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: Yes
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No