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Tuesday's Daily Dose: A Federal Drug Law Is Keeping Medicare Patients Compliant and a Psychedelic May Help Smokers Quit

A pilot trial at Johns Hopkins showed a single psilocybin dose plus therapy led to 40% abstinence at six months, outperforming nicotine patches with 10% success.

  • After key Inflation Reduction Act provisions took effect, researchers found cost-related medication nonadherence dropped from 8.2% to 5.7% among Medicare Part D enrollees, easing pharmacy cost barriers.
  • The Inflation Reduction Act provisions aimed to lower drug costs by implementing an out-of-pocket cap and expanded subsidies, but researchers note this is only one piece of a much larger puzzle addressing patients’ medical debt, premiums, and deductibles.
  • The trial assigned 82 psychiatrically healthy adult smokers 1:1 to psilocybin or nicotine patches with 13-week CBT; one-day abstinence was 90.5% versus 80%, six-month was 52.4% versus 25%, with peak blood pressure 160.2/100.9 mm and one participant treated with nitroglycerin.
  • Among beneficiaries managing two or more chronic conditions, the study reported nearly 8 percentage points improvement, and psilocybin recipients were over six times likelier to stay smoke-free at six months, despite tobacco killing nearly 480,000 Americans each year.
  • A larger National Institutes of Health-funded trial including a placebo arm is underway, while a pharmaceutical company expected to submit a new drug application later this year; researchers caution larger, more diverse trials are needed.
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npr broke the news in Washington, United States on Tuesday, March 10, 2026.
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