MQ Lighthouse - Dr Vince Polito

Australian emerging company Woke Pharmaceuticals, which is focused on psychedelic therapies for treatment of mental health, has developed a novel low-dose formulation of synthetic psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.

The company approached Macquarie University cognitive psychologist Dr Vince Polito to design and run a clinical trial to discover whether the product could be used as a treatment for depression.

While there is emerging evidence showing the effectiveness of high doses of psilocybin combined with psychotherapy as a treatment for various forms of mental illness, this trial is the first to test the effectiveness of regular, small, sub-hallucinogenic doses to treat depression.