Research library / Clinical trial

Long-term benefits of single-dose psilocybin in depressed patients with cancer

Agrawal M, Roddy K, Jenkins B, et al. Cancer 2025;131(12):e35889

This paper reports what happened two years after 30 people with cancer and major depression took part in a phase 2 trial, each receiving a single 25 mg dose of psilocybin with psychological support at a community cancer practice. Of the 28 people assessed, just over half had a significant drop in depression scores at two years, and half had kept that improvement throughout. Somewhat fewer, around 43 to 46%, showed lasting reductions in anxiety. The authors read this as robust antidepressant activity. The study is small, and the abstract describes no comparison group, so it cannot rule out that some people would have improved anyway over two years, or that other care played a part. It points to durable benefit in some patients that larger controlled trials would need to confirm.