The Lundquist Institute Accepts a $1.75 Million Anonymous Donation to Improve the Quality of Dying

It was announced on July 21, 2020 via Business Wire that an anonymous donor has committed $1.75 million to The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation in Torrance, CA to fund a multi-site clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the compound psilocybin in individuals with severe psychological distress associated with a terminal medical illness. The donation will also support education and outreach programs related to the use of psilocybin within the field of palliative care.

This innovative, first-of-its-kind psychedelic study in palliative care will be conducted at several leading medical schools across the United States, including Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. The study will be led by Charles S. Grob, MD, a Lundquist Institute investigator and Professor of Psychiatry and Bio-Behavioral Sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine, and Anthony P. Bossis, PhD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. Both are experts in the use of psychedelic compounds as a palliative treatment model for those suffering with end-of-life existential distress.

“The psychedelic treatment model in patients with advanced-cancer reactive anxiety has been shown to be highly efficacious and safe in both pioneer studies conducted in the 1960s and early 1970s, as well as studies conducted in the modern era at Lundquist/Harbor-UCLA, Johns Hopkins and NYU,” said Grob.

You can read the full press release here.