Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) in Palliative Care

Background: Terminally ill patients often experience significant psychosocial distress having depressed mood, death anxiety, pain, and an overall poor quality of life. Recent evidence from pilot studies suggests that serotonergic hallucinogens including lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin produce significant and sustained reductions of depressive symptoms and anxiety, along with increases in quality of life, and life meaning in patients suffering from life-threatening diseases. Additionally, serotonergic hallucinogens may produce antinociceptive effects. Objective and Design: The study aims to evaluate effects of LSD on psychosocial distress in 60 patients suffering from an advanced or end-stage fatal disease with a life expectancy ≥12wks and ≤2yrs in an active placebo-controlled double-blind parallel study. Patients will be allocated in a 2:1 ratio to one of the two intervention arms receiving either two moderate to high doses of LSD (100 µg and 100 µg or 100 µg and 200 µg) as intervention and two low doses of LSD (25 µg and 25 µg) as active-placebo control.

NCT Number	NCT05883540
Lead Sponsor	University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland Collaborators: University Hospital, Zürich, Spital Uster AG, Uster, Switzerland, University Hospital, Geneva
Conditions	Palliative Care, Pain, Anxiety, Depression, Demoralization, Psychological Distress, Quality of Life, Caregiver Burden +2 more
Enrollment	60 participants
Start Date	2024-06-09
Primary Completion	2027-09 (estimated)
Study Completion	2028-05 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-04-29