Science & Evidence

Ibogaine Research Database

86 peer-reviewed studies indexed from PubMed. Plain-language summaries where available.

All Studies (86)Opioid Addiction (15)Heroin Addiction (15)PTSD (15)Depression (15)Alcohol Addiction (15)Cocaine Addiction (15)Anxiety (13)Methamphetamine Addiction (12)Traumatic Brain Injury (2)

Recent Studies(20)

Psilocybin and Ibogaine in Cocaine-Seeking: Extinction Enhancement Without Relapse Prevention.

Koutrouli, Brejtr, Schwendt· Addiction biology· 2026· PMID: 41780506

Psychedelics have emerged as potential therapeutics for substance use disorders, yet preclinical data validating their efficacy remain limited. Here, we investigated the effects of a clinically inspired dose-escalation protocol of psilocybin and ibogaine on extinction and cue-ind...

Neural Correlates of Ibogaine: Evidence From Functional Neuroimaging of Military Veterans.

Sridhar, Azeez, Geoly· Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging· 2026· PMID: 41687815

Ibogaine was recently found to result in significant functional improvements in treating the sequelae of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among Special Operations Forces veterans (SOVs). In the current study, we used multimodal neuroimaging to elucidate the neural correlates of iboga...

Feasibility, safety and preliminary effects of ibogaine in patients with moderate and severe alcohol use disorder: a pilot, open-label study.

Rocha, Maekawa, Reis· Trends in psychiatry and psychotherapy· 2026· PMID: 42520175

Ibogaine is a natural hallucinogen with emerging evidence for treating substance use disorders. However, its cardiovascular effects are not fully known, and most clinical data focus on opioid dependence, with limited data for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). This study assessed the fe...

Exploring the Use of Ibogaine in Opioid Recovery: Insights from Lived Experience.

Walker, Deering, Unger· Journal of psychoactive drugs· 2026· PMID: 42171381

Opioid dependence is a public health concern in New Zealand, with limited treatment options beyond opioid substitution therapy (OST). Ibogaine, a psychoactive alkaloid with reported anti-withdrawal and anti-craving effects for opioid dependence, is legally available by prescripti...

Sustained abstinence in severe ketamine use disorder following ibogaine treatment case report.

Pérez Rosal, Faber, Backmund· Frontiers in psychiatry· 2026· PMID: 42548882

Substance use disorders (SUD) involving ketamine, cocaine, and alcohol present significant clinical challenges, often characterized by high relapse rates and limited pharmacological options. This case report details a 30-year-old male with a five-year history of severe polysubsta...

Psychedelic-assisted pharmacotherapy: clinical applications and regulatory considerations.

Marazziti, Gambini, Gurrieri· Expert opinion on pharmacotherapy· 2026· PMID: 41944071

After decades of regulatory marginalization, psychedelic compounds have reemerged as promising therapeutic tools in psychiatry, driven by unmet clinical needs in treatment-resistant mental disorders and by growing evidence of rapid and sustained effects on mood, cognition, and be...

Deciphering Ibogaine's Matrix Pharmacology: Multiple Transporter Modulation at Serotonin Synapses.

Hwu, Havel, Westergaard· Journal of the American Chemical Society· 2026· PMID: 41452009

Ibogaine is the main psychoactive alkaloid produced by the iboga tree (Tabernanthe iboga) that has a unique therapeutic potential across multiple indications, including opioid dependence, substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and trau...

Mystical experiences during magnesium-Ibogaine are associated with improvements in PTSD symptoms in veterans.

Brown, Lissemore, Shinozuka· Journal of affective disorders· 2026· PMID: 41265656

Ibogaine is an atypical psychedelic that evokes unique subjective effects, including mystical experiences. Mystical experiences have shown a mediating effect on clinical improvements following treatment with several psychedelic substances; however, the relationship between mystic...

Psychedelics, entactogens and psychoplastogens for depression and related disorders.

Hoyer· British journal of pharmacology· 2026· PMID: 40518133

Currently, the most actively investigated rapidly acting antidepressants, anxiolytics and/or anti PTSD agents, include psychedelics e.g. psilocybin, LSD, N,N-dimethyltryptamine, ayahuasca; non-hallucinogenic entactogens, e.g. MDMA; psychoplastogens which rapidly promote neuroplas...

Ibogaine: Revisiting an Ancient Alkaloid for Modern Opioid Dependence.

Moore, Moore, Alzghari· Substance use & misuse· 2026· PMID: 41404929

Ibogaine is a naturally occurring hallucinogenic alkaloid originally used in ritualistic ceremonies by West Central African tribes for centuries. Ibogaine's rise in popularity in the 1960s was fueled by reports from those with a heroin addiction that claimed ibogaine stemmed thei...

Ibogaine for Opioid Use Disorder: An Unrecognized Risk.

Terasaki, Sackett, Monte· Journal of addiction medicine· 2026· PMID: 41535993

The psychedelic substance, ibogaine, has garnered growing interest among policymakers, researchers, and the public in its potential use for opioid use disorder (OUD). Many states are allocating significant funds to investigate it further. However, some proponents of ibogaine are ...

Comparative Effectiveness of Buprenorphine/Naloxone and Methadone on Methamphetamine/Amphetamine Use Among People with Opioid Use Disorder in Canada.

Langlois, Fairbairn, Jutras-Aswad· Substance use & addiction journal· 2025· PMID: 39614597

It has been suggested that opioid agonist therapy (OAT) may have a secondary benefit of reducing methamphetamine/amphetamine use. However, current evidence is limited and conflicting, and little is known on the impacts of different OATs on methamphetamine/amphetamine use. The aim...

Psychedelic-assisted treatment for substance use disorder: A narrative systematic review.

Piper, Small, Brown· Addiction (Abingdon, England)· 2025· PMID: 39887551

This is the first systematic review of the extant literature on all major psychedelic-assisted treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD), tobacco use disorder (TUD) and other substance use disorders (SUD). We aimed to summarise the evidence for efficacy of psychedelic-assisted tre...

Changing your mind: neuroplastic mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effect of psychedelics in depression, PTSD, and addiction.

Palhas, Corne, Mongeau· Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry· 2025· PMID: 41130352

After years of restrictions due to concerns about their potentially harmful effects, research on psychedelics has entered a new era. Increasing attention has been directed toward their immense therapeutic potential, particularly for psychiatric disorders. Pre-clinical and clinica...

Pharmacological Evaluation of Tropane Analogues at the Serotonin Transporter.

Avanes, Warren, Senthil· ACS chemical neuroscience· 2025· PMID: 40802711

Tropane alkaloids and their derivatives represent a diverse class of small molecules with a broad range of therapeutic applications. Many tropanes regulate synaptic levels of neuromodulators by interacting with monoamine transporters such as dopamine (DAT) and serotonin (SERT) tr...

Efficient and modular synthesis of ibogaine and related alkaloids.

Iyer, Favela, Domokos· Nature chemistry· 2025· PMID: 39915657

Anecdotal reports and preliminary clinical trials suggest that the psychoactive alkaloid ibogaine and its active metabolite noribogaine have powerful anti-addictive properties, producing long-lasting therapeutic effects across a range of substance use disorders and co-occurring n...

The effect of craving on retention and treatment switching under buprenorphine-naloxone and methadone models of care for non-heroin opioid use disorder: Exploratory analyses from a pragmatic,

McAnulty, Bastien, Abboud· Journal of substance use and addiction treatment· 2025· PMID: 40571059

Though opioid agonist therapies are the mainstay of treatment for opioid use disorder, treatment retention remains suboptimal. Improved prediction of who will remain in treatment could lead to improved treatment outcomes. Whether craving predicts reduced retention in treatment re...

Expectancies of the Effects of Cannabis Use in Individuals with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD).

Elsaid, Wang, Kloiber· Brain sciences· 2024· PMID: 38539634

Previous research has indicated that anticipating positive effects from cannabis use may be linked with increased frequency of cannabis consumption, yet these expectancies remain poorly understood in adults with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Thus, our study aimed to investigate ...

Perceptions, Experiences, and Patterns of Cannabis Use in Individuals with Mood and Anxiety Disorders in the Context of Cannabis Legalization and Medical Cannabis Program in Canada - A Qualit

Das, Hendershot, Husain· Pharmacopsychiatry· 2024· PMID: 38467156

Perceptions of cannabis as a potential medical treatment for mood and anxiety disorders have been increasing in the context of legalizations, availability, and medical cannabis programs, though current evidence predominately indicates risks and negative effects of cannabis use (C...

Beyond Psilocybin: Reviewing the Therapeutic Potential of Other Serotonergic Psychedelics in Mental and Substance Use Disorders.

Wong, Yu, Fabiano· Journal of psychoactive drugs· 2024· PMID: 37615379

There has been a resurgence of interest in the use of psychedelic therapies for several mental and substance use disorders. Psilocybin, a "classic" serotonergic psychedelic, has emerged as one of the primary compounds of interest in clinical research. While research on psilocybin...