In a world saturated with antidepressants and marginal gains, Doug Drysdale is betting on a radical reset. As CEO of Cybin, a clinical-stage psychedelic therapeutics company, Drysdale is leading one of the boldest pharmaceutical experiments in mental health: using modified psychedelic compounds not just to ease symptoms, but to potentially cure depression.
Why It Works
Researchers at the University of Cambridge describe psychedelics as tools that can help the brain loosen rigid thought patterns linked to depression and anxiety. Dr. Ayla Selamoğlu, one of the first scholars to study psychedelics at Cambridge University beginning in 2018, compared neural pathways to “well-used roads”: The more frequently we travel the same mental routes, the more deeply ingrained they become. Psychedelics, she explained, can help people “relinquish control and relearn” by relaxing those pathways and encouraging the formation of new neural connections.
Selamoğlu and her colleagues suggest that this process can dissolve the “feedback loops of negative thought patterns, self-doubt, and spirals of despair,” offering patients greater clarity and the potential for profound psychological healing.
Modified Magic Mushrooms
“What we’re working on is a real paradigm shift in treating mental health,” Drysdale told Costa at the Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles. “We’ve been treating the symptoms of depression for the last 40 or 50 years. Now, for the first time, we think we have something that can actually change the course of disease.”
That “something” is CYB003, a lab-modified version of psilocybin—the active compound in magic mushrooms—engineered for clinical precision. CYB003 is designed to preserve the therapeutic potential of psilocybin while removing the unpredictability that’s kept it out of mainstream medicine. That’s not just about enhancing efficacy—it’s also about making them more clinically viable, with predictable onset, dosage, and duration. It’s a long way from Woodstock. Still, the road to regulatory approval is not without obstacles.
Federal Regulation Loosens Its Grip
CYB003 has earned Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the adjunctive treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD)—a status reserved for therapies showing substantial early improvement over existing treatments.
At the time of writing, dosing is underway in PARADIGM—Cybin’s Phase 3 clinical program, which includes two pivotal studies. The most recent, called EMBRACE, received approval from the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in mid-2025. This randomized, double-blind trial will enroll 330 participants with moderate-to-severe MDD who haven’t adequately responded to traditional antidepressants but remain on stable doses.
Together, PARADIGM’s two trials will recruit roughly 550 patients worldwide, one of the most advanced late-stage clinical programs for psychedelic medicine to date.
Ironically, it’s the conservative right—and the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement—that are now leading calls to loosen federal regulations around therapeutic psychedelic research; the left has, generally, grown more wary. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has publicly backed psychedelic-assisted therapy, calling it a “promising frontier” for mental health and for treating PTSD.
We’re seeing some breakthroughs. In June 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation allocating $50 million to fund clinical research on psychedelic ibogaine as a potential treatment for certain mental health conditions.
If the data continues its trajectory, this funding breakthrough could mark the beginning of a new era in mental health treatment.
The Reset
Unlike traditional SSRIs, which patients must take daily for years, CYB003 is administered just twice, three weeks apart. “After just the second dose, 75% of patients were in remission from their depression,” Drysdale said. “Basically, their scores no longer met the criteria for depression. Which is remarkable.”
The treatment’s roots in psychedelics are, unsurprisingly, the most controversial part of Cybin’s approach. But Drysdale insists that the focus should be on science, not stigma. “This shift in care requires a shift in thinking. Let’s not be close-minded,” he said. “Most things haven’t really worked in the past. So let’s be open to trying something new.” For millions suffering from treatment-resistant depression, this isn’t just a medical breakthrough. It’s a lifeline.
