ArticleClinical drug investigation2022
The Costs and Health Benefits of Expanded Access to MDMA-assisted Therapy for Chronic and Severe PTSD in the USA: A Modeling Study.
Article in Clinical drug investigation, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review of Decision-Analytic Modelling Approaches in Economic Evaluations of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Treatments.PharmacoEconomics · 2026Pooled it
- Characterizing non-hallucinogenic psychedelics beyond the head twitch response: phenotypic fingerprinting of lisuride and LSD.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Bringing Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy to Palliative Oncology: Early Lessons from Real-World Implementation.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Not a Standalone Treatment: Considerations for Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy.Brain and behavior · 2026Review
- Psilocybin-assisted therapy for treatment-resistant depression in the US: a model-based cost-effectiveness analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- The Cost Effectiveness of Adjunctive Medical Cannabis Therapy in the Treatment of Moderate Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.Clinical drug investigation · 2025Article
- Psychedelics and the treatment of eating disorders: considerations for future research and practice.Journal of eating disorders · 2024Article
- Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A State-of-the-art Review.Current neuropharmacology · 2024Review
- The Psychedelic Future of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment.Current neuropharmacology · 2024Review
- Group psychedelic therapy: empirical estimates of cost-savings and improved access.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder.Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing) · 2022Review
- The economics of psychedelic-assisted therapies: A research agenda.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectiveIntensive psychotherapy assisted with 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA-AT) was shown in Phase 3 clinical trials to substantially reduce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms compared to psychotherapy with placebo. This study estimates potential costs, health benefits, and net savings of expanding access to MDMA-AT to eligible US patients with chronic and severe PTSD.
methodsUsing a decision-analytic model, we compared the costs, deaths averted, and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained of three, 10-year MDMA-AT coverage targets (25%, 50%, and 75%) compared to providing standard of care to the same number of eligible patients with chronic and severe PTSD. We used a payer perspective and discounted costs (in US$) and QALYs to 2020. We conducted one-way, scenario, and probabilistic sensitivity analyses and calculated the net monetary value of MDMA-AT using a cost-effectiveness threshold of $100,000 per QALY gained.
resultsExpanding access to MDMA-AT to 25-75% of eligible patients is projected to avert 43,618-106,932 deaths and gain 3.3-8.2 million QALYs. All three treatment targets are dominant or cost-saving compared to standard of care. Our sensitivity analyses found that accounting for parameter uncertainty and changes in various assumptions did not alter the main finding-MDMA-AT is dominant compared to standard of care.
conclusionExpanding access to MDMA-AT to patients with chronic and severe PTSD will provide substantial health and financial benefits. The precise magnitude is uncertain and will depend on the number of eligible patients and other inputs.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.