King's College London

The new Centre is part of a pioneering long-term strategic partnership between biotechnology company Compass Pathways, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London.

Located at the Maudsley Hospital in South London, the dedicated and purpose-built space will be run by leading clinical investigators, Professor Allan Young, Head of Academic Psychiatry at IoPPN, and Dr James Rucker, Consultant Psychiatrist and Lead of the Psychoactive Trials Group at King’s College London. The centre’s research will initially focus on areas of urgent need, including treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and anorexia nervosa.

Professor Allan Young said, “Today marks a milestone for research into the use of psychedelics to treat mental health conditions. Over several years we have moved to phase 3 clinical trials for psilocybin and treatment-resistant depression, an achievement that would not have been possible without the facilities and staff of the NIHR King’s Clinical Research Facility.

Coinciding with the Centre opening, Compass Pathways announced the commencement of the UK component of its phase 3 program of the use of psilocybin in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). The research will take place in multiple sites in the UK, including at the Centre for Mental Health Research and Innovation. The on-going phase 3 program is the largest randomised, controlled, double-blind psilocybin treatment clinical program ever conducted, and follows promising results from Compass’s phase 2b study of COMP360 psilocybin treatment.

David Bradley, Chief Executive of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, said, “We are excited to be running part of this pivotal phase 3 study at the new Centre for Mental Health Research at our Maudsley Hospital site in south London.”

The Centre will assist in the development of new models of care to help integrate these investigational treatments into healthcare systems, if approved in the future. This will include evaluating real-world evidence, researching and developing digital technologies that may help to deliver personalised, predictive and preventative care models, and conducting therapist training.

“Every 40 seconds, someone dies from suicide; tens of millions more live with mental health conditions for which there is no good standard of care.” said Kabir Nath, CEO, Compass Pathways. “The launch of our phase 3 clinical study in treatment-resistant depression here in the UK is an important step in developing innovations that are urgently needed, and we recognize the important role that public-private partnerships play in this."

"We’re proud to partner with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London to open the new Centre for Mental Health Research and Innovation. Together, we are conducting cutting-edge research to develop new solutions for mental illnesses and ensure these potential treatments are broadly and equitably accessible to those who need them the most.”

The psychoactive trials group based at the IoPPN brings together researchers and clinicians from King’s College London and South London and Maudsley to study psychedelics as a treatment for a range of mental health conditions including TRD, anorexia and PTSD. Much of this research has taken place at the National Institute of Health and Care Resaerch (NIHR) King’s Clinical Research Facility and been supported by NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, whose interim director Professor Grainne McAlonan is leading an investigative study into psilocybin and autism.

For more information, please contact the IoPPN Communications Team.