Growing evidence indicates that psychedelic substances can successfully address severe mental health issues, particularly when conventional treatments are ineffective, although they come with drawbacks. Their hallucinogenic properties may be daunting and can persist for extended periods. The effectiveness of treatment is significantly influenced by the person’s mindset and surroundings. In rare instances, psychedelics may exacerbate pre-existing mental health disorders.
Mindstate Design Labs intends to develop safer psychedelics by removing the traditional “trip.” The company employs AI to create substances that elicit specific mental states devoid of hallucinations, and its initial compound is showing potential.
“We developed the least psychedelic psychedelic that remains psychoactive,” states CEO Dillan DiNardo. “It is indeed quite psychoactive, yet there are no hallucinations.”
Established in 2021 and backed by Y Combinator, along with founders from OpenAI, Neuralink, Instacart, Coinbase, and Twitch, Mindstate has formulated AI models that correlate biochemical information from various psychoactive substances to over 70,000 “trip reports” gathered from clinical studies, drug discussion forums, social media platforms, Reddit, and the dark web.
The platform’s evaluations resulted in MSD-001, a proprietary oral version of 5-MeO-MiPT, referred to as moxy. In Phase I trials presented to WIRED, the drug was found to be safe and well-tolerated among 47 healthy volunteers across five dosage levels. It elicited psychoactive effects without the typical overwhelming trip, confirming the effectiveness of the AI platform.
Participants noted increased emotional responses, associative thinking, enhanced creativity, and perceptual changes such as more vivid colors without encountering hallucinations, feelings of self-disintegration, oceanic boundlessness, or other standard psychedelic trip characteristics.
The company evaluated the drug’s impact using established psychedelic research metrics and subjective inquiries like “Do you feel happy?” and “Do you feel sad?” Researchers monitored eye movements and stability, and performed brain imaging before, during, and after the psychoactive experience. Brain imaging revealed that the drug generated brain-wave patterns linked to psilocybin and other early psychedelics. “The drug is entering the brain and performing as we expect it to,” DiNardo remarks.
Psychoactive effects initiated approximately 30 minutes post-consumption, peaking between one and two hours. No significant adverse events were noted.
The trial conducted at the Centre for Human Drug Research in the Netherlands involved participants both with and without previous psychedelic experience.
Mindstate’s methodology implies that a psychedelic “trip” might not be essential for achieving therapeutic advantages. Psychedelics influence the serotonin system in the brain, stimulating neuroplasticity, which entails the growth of neurons and the formation of new connections. Some researchers contend that this neuroplasticity stimulation, rather than the hallucinogenic experiences, is crucial in addressing mental health conditions.
