Ibogaine Study Releases Preliminary Findings
ICEERS study team members
The ICEERS ibogaine study in Spain, to which the Etheridge foundation awarded our very first grant, has released some preliminary research results.
These include:
Significant reduction in methadone dosage. All participants achieved a 50% reduction in their daily methadone dose for one week after ibogaine administration.
Control of withdrawal symptoms. Participants reported an overall experience of relief and relaxation. Although withdrawal symptoms increased slightly at 12 hours after administration, psychometric assessments showed that symptoms did not reach clinically significant levels.
Safety and tolerability. No serious adverse events were reported. The most common side effects included fatigue, dizziness, and light sensitivity, all of mild to moderate intensity. Safety measures indicated that in general, levels of anxiety, depression and psychopathological symptoms remained stable throughout the study, with no clinically significant changes, supporting the psychiatric safety of the treatment.
Impact on energy metabolism. Metabolomic analyses showed changes in compounds related to cellular metabolism, such as a decrease in lactate and an increase in 2-oxo isocaproate. These results suggest that ibogaine could restore energy metabolism altered by chronic opioid use.
The study team is currently continuing with the one year follow-up of the treated participants and is analyzing the results of the full study. They hope to present their final results by June of this year.
The preliminary results were included in the dissertation of one of the study team members, which you can download to read (the acknowledgments are in Spanish but the scientific content is in English). While the dissertation scope is broader and includes other ibogaine research, it also looks at the Phase II clinical trial that the Etheridge Foundation helped support.
It’s incredibly exciting for us to see the results start to emerge from this important work!
To track research developments, the Grants Awarded page on our website lists each study to which we’ve made a grant, along with their current statuses and links to their clinicaltrial.gov entries (as applicable).
