The FDA is issuing national priority vouchers to three companies studying psychedelic drugs to treat serious mental illness. The vouchers were issued to companies studying psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder as well as methylone for post-traumatic stress…
Government & Regulation
The Connecticut Insurance Department fined Aetna, Cigna, ConnectiCare, UnitedHealthcare and Anthem over alleged mental health parity violations, according to an April 15 department report. The report said carriers had “non-comparable and inadequate [mental health and substance use disorder] networks because…
The Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Administration have placed FDA-approved products containing marijuana and state-licensed medical marijuana products in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. The order takes effect immediately and also initiates an expedited administrative hearing process to…
The American Medical Association is calling on federal lawmakers to enact safeguards on AI chatbots, particularly when it comes to protecting patients’ mental health. With the rapid rise of people using chatbots for behavioral and other health-related issues, the AMA…
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health is launching a behavioral health research initiative that will fund up to $139.4 million to develop new therapies. The initiative, Evidence-Based Validation and Innovation for Rapid Therapeutics in Behavioral Health, will allocate at…
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President Donald Trump signed an executive order April 18 directing federal agencies to accelerate research, regulatory review and access to psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine compounds, for serious mental illnesses. The order comes as more than 14 million American adults live with serious…
The White House is preparing an executive order to expand federal research into ibogaine, a psychedelic drug used in some countries to treat PTSD, CBS News reported April 16. The Trump administration plans to keep ibogaine classified as a Schedule…
This year, Georgia issued $25 million in fines to 11 insurers over mental health parity violations. Regence BlueShield, Premera Blue Cross and Cigna each faced fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2025. This wave of fines comes on the heels of HHS, the…
New York City-based NewYork-Presbyterian has been ordered to make “sweeping” reforms and pay $500,000 as part of a settlement over its treatment of patients experiencing behavioral health emergencies. Six things to know: 1. Following a yearslong investigation, the Office of…
California state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill to allow survivors of conversion therapy to pursue malpractice claims against providers, according to a March 20 news release from his office. The lawmaker and LGBTQ advocacy groups began developing…