Rick Doblin criticizes FDA for rejecting Lykos’ MDMA drug

It's been a rough week for psychedelic pioneer Rick Doblin.

First, the Food and Drug Administration refused to approve the MDMA-assisted therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder developed by Lykos Therapeutics, a company he founded. The next day, the journal Psychopharmacology retracted three studies on the treatment, many of whose authors were affiliated with Lykos or the nonprofit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), which Doblin founded.

On Thursday, Lykos announced it would lay off 75 percent of its staff – and Doblin left the company's board. Now MAPS is cutting 33 percent of its 42 employees to save resources and focus on decriminalizing drugs and globalizing access to MDMA, it said.