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What can two decades of clinical research teach us about psilocybin's potential for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Francisco Moreno, a pioneer in psychedelic-assisted treatment research, to trace the arc of his work - from his landmark 2006 trial, one of the first modern investigations of psilocybin for OCD, to his newly published 2026 randomized clinical trial testing repeated psilocybin doses in a larger patient sample.
We discuss the design, safety, and efficacy findings from both studies; what changed methodologically between them; and what the data suggests about the durability of psilocybin's effects for OCD specifically. Dr. Moreno also unpacks the mechanistic rationale for why psilocybin may interrupt obsessive-compulsive cycles, what neurobiological and biomarker evidence exists to support this, and where psychotherapy fits alongside pharmacological treatment. We close by looking ahead to what the next twenty years of this research might look like.
More About Dr. Moreno: Francisco A. Moreno, M.D. is Tenured Professor of Psychiatry, and Associate Vice President at the University of Arizona Health Science, Office of Student Engagement and Career Advancement. As part of his academic efforts he serves as Corresponding Principal Investigator and Engagement Lead for the NIH-Precision Medicine Initiative’s “All of Us Research Program”; Multiple Principal Investigator for Az-PRIME, an NIH-NHLBI grant to enhance the research skill and academic advancement of early career faculty; Principal Investigator of the Arizona Biomedical Research Development program, which is geared to support early career researchers; and Principal Investigator and Director of “Arizona HOPE” a HRSA- Health Career Opportunities Program which works to enhance the health professions workforce. Dr. Moreno grew up in Mexico, where he attended medical school. He completed residency in general adult psychiatry, fellowship training in Neuropsychopharmacology, and career development training in Quantitative Genetics at the University of Arizona. He has been conducting research in biology and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders, geared to improve our understanding of the brain and molecular basis for mental illness and the underlying mechanism of action of antidepressants / antianxiety drugs, and treatment resistance. His team is conducting transdisciplinary collaborative research in the use of psilocybin for the treatment of OCD and exploring putative biomarkers of treatment response.
