The Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Health and Human Services signed a memorandum of understanding today to ensure the effective implementation of President Trump’s Executive Order on Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness .
Through that order, President Trump instructed his administration to explore whether psychedelic drugs might play a role in saving the lives of Veterans and others with serious mental illness. It specifically called on VA to work with HHS to increase clinical trial participation and share data with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure that successful trials lead to the timely evaluation and approval of these drugs.
The MOU signed today lays the groundwork for VA-HHS cooperation on psychedelic trials, which includes efforts to:
- Increase clinical trial participation
- Provide training for therapists, nurses and doctors involved in these trials
- Collect and share data on the effectiveness, safety and costs of these potential therapies