"Video commentary from researchers and broll are available at httpbcove.mettyxtcl. A media teleconference with researchers and patients will also be held on Wednesday Nov.  from  a.m. EST to  p.m. EST. To participate U.S.based media can call  international media should dial . The access code is . Phone lines open at  a.m. and all media should place speakers on mute unless posing a question. Reporters wishing to ask a question should email their name and outlet to david.marchnyumc.org mailtodavid.marchnyumc.orgsubjectNewswiseArticleReporterFollowupbccreportersnewswise.com during the briefing so they may be placed in a queue the moderator will call on individual media to ask a question in the order names and outlets were received. Newswise  When combined with psychological counseling a single dose of a mindaltering compound contained in psychedelic mushrooms significantly lessens mental anguish in distressed cancer patients for months at a time according to results of a clinical trial led by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center. Published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology online Dec. the study showed that onetime treatment with the hallucinogenic drug psilocybin  whose use required federal waivers because it is a banned substance  quickly brought relief from distress that then lasted for more than six months in  percent of the  study subjects monitored based on clinical evaluation scores for anxiety and depression.  The NYU Langoneled study was published side by side with a similar study from Johns Hopkins. Study results were also endorsed in  accompanying editorials from leading experts in psychiatry addiction and palliative care.  Our results represent the strongest evidence to date of a clinical benefit from psilocybin therapy with the potential to transform care for patients with cancerrelated psychological distress says study lead investigator Stephen Ross MD director of substance abuse services in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Langone.  If larger clinical trials prove successful then we could ultimately have available a safe effective and inexpensive medication  dispensed under strict control  to alleviate the distress that increases suicide rates among cancer patients says Ross also an associate professor of psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine.  Study coinvestigator Jeffrey Guss MD a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone notes that psilocybin has been studied for decades and has an established safety profile. Study participants he says experienced no serious negative effects such as hospitalization or more serious mental health conditions.  Although the neurological benefits of psilocybin are not completely understood it has been proven to activate parts of the brain also impacted by the signaling chemical serotonin which is known to control mood and anxiety. Serotonin imbalances have also been linked to depression. For the study half of the participants were randomly assigned to receive a . milligrams per kilogram dose of psilocybin while the rest received a vitamin placebo  milligrams of niacin known to produce a rush that mimics a hallucinogenic drug experience.  Approximately half way through the studys monitoring period after seven weeks all participants switched treatments. Those who initially received psilocybin took a single dose of placebo and those who first took niacin then received psilocybin. Neither patients nor researchers knew who had first received psilocybin or placebo. Guss says The randomization placebo control and doubleblind procedures maximized the validity of the study results. One of the key findings was that improvements in clinical evaluation scores for anxiety and depression lasted for the remainder of the studys extended monitoring period  specifically eight months for those who took psilocybin first. All patients in the study  mostly women age  to  who are or were patients at the Perlmutter Cancer Center of NYU Langone  had either advanced breast gastrointestinal or blood cancers and had been diagnosed as suffering from serious psychological distress related to their disease. All patients who volunteered to be part of the study were provided with tailored counseling from a psychiatrist psychologist nurse or social worker and were monitored for side effects and improvements in their mental state. Coinvestigator Anthony Bossis PhD a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone says patients also reported postpsilocybin improvements in their quality of life going out more greater energy getting along better with family members and doing well at work. Several also reported variations of spirituality unusual peacefulness and increased feelings of altruism.  Our study showed that psilocybin facilitated experiences that drove reductions in psychological distress says Bossis. And if its true for cancer care then it could apply to other stressful medical conditions. Bossis cautions that patients should not consume psilocybin on their own or without supervision by a physician and a trained counselor. He also says Psilocybin therapy may not work for everyone and some groups such as people with schizophrenia as well as adolescents should not be treated with it. Both the NYU Langone and Johns Hopkins studies were principally funded by the Heffter Research Institute a nonprofit scientific institution with the principal mission of helping to design review and fund studies on the use of psilocybin for a wide range of ailments Ross previously served as a board member. Additional funding for the NYU Langone study was provided by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences part of the National Institutes of Health UL TR. The drug used in the study was manufactured by Organix Inc. in Woburn Mass. Besides Ross Guss and Bossis other NYU researchers involved in this study are Gabrielle AginLiebes BS Tara Malone MA Alexander Belser MPhil Krystallia Kalliontzi MSc Barry Cohen PhD Sarah Mennenga PhD James Babb PhD Zhe Su MS MA Patricia Corby DDS and Brian Schmidt MD PhD.  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