DT-120 for Generalized Anxiety: Addressing the Gap With Optimized LSD Pharmacotherapy

Jessica Malberg, PhD, and Dan Karlin, MD, shared about DT-120, a pharmaceutically optimized formulation of LSD, and discussed the unmet need driving its development in generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder.¹

Karlin and Malberg provided an overview of the phase 2b efficacy data: a single dose of DT-120 produced a 7.7-point separation from placebo and achieved full clinical remission in 48% of patients with moderate to severe generalized anxiety disorder, with effects measured at 12 weeks post-dose.² They framed the poster presentation—focused on adverse event data from phase 2b and subsequent phase 1 studies—as an effort to give clinicians and researchers a transparent, detailed account of the drug's safety profile, noting that "we want to share as much information as we can to get people to really understand what this drug is doing."

Karlin situated the development program within a significant unmet need, noting that no new drug has been approved for generalized anxiety disorder in over 19 years and that the condition remains substantially underdiagnosed: "far more people are suffering from GAD than are diagnosed with it," and without a diagnosis, treatment cannot be initiated. He described the field's current practitioners as doing their best with limited tools and framed DT-120 as a potentially differentiated addition to the treatment armamentarium.

Both speakers expressed enthusiasm for the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology meeting as a venue for scientific exchange, describing it as an opportunity to engage in substantive discussion with the full breadth of investigators, from postdoctoral fellows to established researchers, who have contributed to the DT-120 development program.

Dr Malberg is executive director of medical affairs at Definium Therapeutics.

Dr Karlin is chief medical officer at Definium Therapeutics.

References

1. Science of DT120. Definium Therapeutics. Accessed May 28, 2026. https://definiumtx.com/pipeline/dt120/

2. A phase 3 trial of DT120 for major depressive disorder (Ascend). Clinical Trials.gov. May 27, 2026. Accessed May 28, 2026. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07592689