Psychedelic clinical trials in San Diego: every study with a local site

What's on this list, and how was it pulled?

This page lists 45 registered trials that test a psychedelic, an entactogen or ketamine and name at least one study site in San Diego County, pulled from the ClinicalTrials.gov data interface on October 21, 2026¹. Twenty-five test psilocybin or a related compound, LSD, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, MDMA or methylone. The other 20 test ketamine or esketamine for a psychiatric condition.

We searched 31 drug names and company codes, within 75 miles of the county and by 15 county city names, kept records whose county site and named drug both checked out, and dropped ketamine trials for pain, anesthesia or seizures. "Every study" means every record that search found; a trial registered under a code we didn't search could be missing.

Why trials matter here: psilocybin is a Schedule I drug under California law³ and no psilocybin drug is FDA-approved¹⁹, so outside approved research there's no lawful way to receive it. Our California access map covers the rest. The data are free to download as CSV or JSON under a CC BY 4.0 license, just below the list.

Trials listed

45

Recruiting or opening

12

Active, not recruiting

8

Completed

21

How many are recruiting, running or finished?

Here's the split by the registry's own status field¹:

Only 15 records have results posted on the registry, 4 psychedelic and 11 ketamine. None of the large psilocybin depression trials with county sites, Compass Pathways' COMP005 and COMP006 or Usona Institute's uAspire, has posted results there¹. Compass reports its phase 3 toplines in company filings instead¹⁹.

Which trials list a San Diego County site?

Filter by status with the buttons. Each card shows the drug, condition, sponsor, county site, dates and age range as the registry listed them on October 21, 2026, with a link to the full record.

What do the drug codes mean?

Sponsors often register a drug under a company code. Here's what each one in this set is; our glossary explains the chemistry terms.

Which trials are recruiting now?

Eight records say "recruiting" on October 21, 2026¹. Read each as "per registry": the overall status covers the whole study, not necessarily the county site.

UC San Diego's trial finder says the burnout study is open to eligible people ages 21 to 70 and describes it as a study of UCSD physicians¹⁰. Two more records say "not yet recruiting" (IV DMT, NCT07693257; ketamine for opioid use disorder, NCT07369089), and two enroll by invitation (a CYB003 extension, NCT06605105; esketamine for suicidal thoughts, NCT07396220)¹.

Just outside the county, UC Irvine is recruiting in Orange County for an observational brain-imaging study (NCT07226570) of people with opioid use disorder who have already arranged ibogaine treatment outside the US on their own; UC Irvine doesn't provide or pay for the ibogaine². The VA's PIVOT psilocybin trial for veterans has no California site⁹; see our PIVOT report.

Which San Diego sites show up most?

Kadima Neuropsychiatry Institute in La Jolla is a listed site on 18 of the 25 psychedelic trials and 2 of the 20 ketamine trials¹. It appears in the registry as a research site. That listing means it runs study visits for those trials, not that anyone can get psilocybin, LSD or MDMA there as treatment.

UC San Diego facilities, including the Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute in La Jolla, appear on 13 trials. Excell Research in Oceanside, Artemis Institute for Clinical Research in San Diego and VA San Diego Healthcare System appear on 3 each¹.

What are UC San Diego and VA San Diego studying?

UC San Diego researchers lead four psychedelic studies on the list; the registry names UC San Diego as sponsor of three and Jon Dean, a UCSD researcher, as sponsor of the fourth¹:

• Anorexia nervosa (NCT04661514, completed 2022). The paper calls it a phase 1 feasibility study of 10 women¹¹; the registry labels it phase 2.
• Phantom limb pain (NCT05224336, active, not recruiting). A 2026 pilot report on 9 participants found no serious adverse events, and the authors say pain trends "may be attributed to the small sample size and functional unblinding"¹².
• Physician burnout (NCT06814522, recruiting), with the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) as collaborator.
• IV DMT in healthy volunteers (NCT07693257, not yet recruiting), under Jon Dean, listed as UCSD's director of DMT research.

VA San Diego Healthcare System is the only site for two small MDMA studies with veterans. NCT05979844, MDMA with couples therapy, finished in November 2025; its open-label pilot of 8 veterans and their partners reported large drops in PTSD symptoms and no serious adverse events¹³. NCT06117306, MDMA with prolonged exposure therapy, is active but not recruiting. The registry calls both "phase 3", with enrollment of 16 and 20¹. Our San Diego psychedelic scene guide covers the people behind these studies.

Why do some records look out of date?

A record shows what the study team last submitted. On October 21, 2026, four had a status their own dates had overtaken¹:

• NCT05733546 (COMP360): "active", with estimated completion in September 2025; last updated August 19, 2025.
• NCT06524830 (VLS-01): "recruiting", with estimated primary completion on August 1, 2026; last updated May 11, 2026.
• NCT07693257 (IV DMT): "not yet recruiting", though its estimated start was September 1, 2026.
• NCT07369089 (ketamine, opioid use disorder): "not yet recruiting", with an estimated start of February 2026.

Check phase labels against the enrollment figure and any published paper. When a record and an institution's own page disagree, compare their dates.

How do you look into joining a trial safely?

1. Read the record. Check the status, last update, age range and eligibility criteria. Every trial has eligibility criteria, so not everyone who applies gets in⁵.
2. Contact the listed site through the registry entry or the institution's own trial page, such as UC San Diego's¹⁰, rather than a third party.
3. Expect screening and consent. The team asks for health information and applies inclusion and exclusion criteria⁶. You'll get an informed consent document explaining the risks and your rights, and you can leave at any time⁵⁶.
4. Ask about oversight and cost. NIH says most, but not all, US trials are approved and monitored by an institutional review board, and suggests asking whether you'll pay for any part of the trial, such as tests or the study drug⁶. FDA rules require a sponsor to get FDA's prior written authorization before charging for an investigational drug⁷, so a request to pay for the study drug is a reason to stop and check.

A trial is research, not treatment on request, and you may get a placebo. For legal care outside trials, see our therapy cost and access table.