Usona Institute
American non-profit medical research organization
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Usona Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit medical research organization (MRO) which is developing psychedelic drugs for potential medical use.[2][1] It was launched by scientist and entrepreneur Bill Linton, who is the founder of the biotechnology company Promega Corporation, and by physician Malynn Utzinger in 2014.[2][1]
 | |
| Company type | 501(c)(3) non-profit medical research organization |
|---|---|
| Industry | Pharmaceutical; Psychedelic medicine |
| Founded | 2014 in Madison, Wisconsin, United States |
| Founder | Bill Linton; Malynn Utzinger[1] |
| Headquarters | , |
Number of employees | 18[1] (March 2019[1]) |
| Website | www |
The organization is developing psilocybin (4-HO-DMT) for treatment of depression.[3][4] It started a phase 2 clinical trial of psilocybin for major depressive disorder in 2019.[2] The same year, this candidate received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "breakthrough therapy" designation.[2][5] This clinical trial has since been completed and its psilocybin candidate is now in phase 3 clinical studies.[6][7] In July 2024, it was said that the Usona Institute was leading the largest clinical trial of ongoing psilocybin treatment for depression, a phase 3 trial with 240 participants treated with 5 or 25 mg psilocybin or placebo.[8] Other candidates of the institute include mebufotenin (5-MeO-DMT)[9] and bufotenin (5-HO-DMT),[10] among others.[11][12]
The Usona Institute is notable in manufacturing large quantities of synthetic psilocybin and supplying the drug for clinical trials throughout the world, which it does for free for research purposes.[2][13]
