{"id":1046992,"date":"2026-06-24T11:37:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T11:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1046992\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T11:37:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T11:37:25","slug":"definiums-shares-surge-55-after-lsd-based-depression-pill-delivers-strong-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1046992\/","title":{"rendered":"Definium&#8217;s shares surge 55% after LSD-based depression pill delivers strong results"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Definium Therapeutics\u00a0said a single dose of its\u00a0LSD-based experimental pill significantly reduced symptoms of major depression in patients in a late-stage trial, sending its shares soaring 50% to a more than four-year high on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The experimental drug helped patients record significantly lower scores on a standard depression scale than those on placebo after six weeks, with an 8.1-point difference, meeting the trial\u2019s main goal, the company said.<\/p>\n<p>The pill, DT120, belongs to a class of drugs known as classic psychedelics, which temporarily alter perception, mood and thinking. It is a pharmaceutical formulation of lysergide, better known as\u00a0LSD, and works by activating serotonin receptors in the brain.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.53984962;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39752964\" width=\"909\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/illustration-photo-shows-various-medicine-21359080.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration of various medicine pills in their original packaging.\" class=\"wp-image-39752964\"  \/>In April, President Trump signed an\u00a0executive order\u00a0to speed up access to psychedelic-based treatments. REUTERS<\/p>\n<p>In April, President Trump signed an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/18\/us-news\/trump-signs-order-to-fast-track-ibogaine-psychedelic-drug-research-to-treat-veterans-with-ptsd\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">executive order<\/a>\u00a0to speed up access to psychedelic-based treatments.<\/p>\n<p>Definium shares, which have gained about 174% so far this year, closed up 50% at $36.67.<\/p>\n<p>Needham analyst Ami Fadia called the results \u201cunprecedented in the depression space,\u201d adding the drug showed greater reductions in scores at six weeks than Johnson &amp; Johnson\u2019s\u00a0Spravato and Compass Pathways\u2019\u00a0COMP360 achieved at week four.<\/p>\n<p>Axsome Therapeutics\u2019\u00a0Auvelity and Sage Therapeutics\u2019\u00a0Zurzuvae are some of the other treatments for major depressive disorder (MDD).<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39753236\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/food-drug-administration-seal-seen-130889555.jpg\" alt=\"The FDA seal with the words &quot;U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of the Commissioner.&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-39753236\"  \/>Definium said the data brings it closer to a Food and Drug Administration submission, and it was running a second late-stage depression trial. AP Photo\/Jose Luis Magana<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDT120 could emerge as a worthy competitor in the MDD \/ TRD space with a strong clinical profile,\u201d Fadia added.<\/p>\n<p>Definium said the data brings it closer to a Food and Drug Administration submission, and it was running a second late-stage depression trial.<\/p>\n<p>The drug was generally well-tolerated, with 99% of adverse events mild to moderate, occurring mainly on the day of dosing, and no serious safety issues or increase in suicidal thoughts observed.<\/p>\n<p>The trial enrolled 149 participants aged 18-74 years with MDD, the second-most common mental health disorder in the US, with more than 21 million adults experiencing a major depressive episode each year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Definium Therapeutics\u00a0said a single dose of its\u00a0LSD-based experimental pill significantly reduced symptoms of major depression in patients in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1046993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4317],"tags":[51,1301,535,99866,105,13969,218,16,15],"class_list":["post-1046992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-business","tag-depression","tag-drugs","tag-experimental-drugs","tag-health","tag-lsd","tag-mental-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116804887957439157","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1046993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}