An MDMA phase I safety study conducted by Dr. Charles Grob was approved by the FDA in 1992 and completed in 1995. Subsequent efforts to obtain approval for a cancer patient study were rejected twice by the FDA. After formal protests to senior FDA management during the summer of 1999, the FDA agreed to approve an MDMA study in cancer patients.

Read more about this study and the history of MDMA research

Additional links and updates on this site:

• 1995 version of the cancer patient protocol
• The FDA grants permission for MDMA therapy research (June 1999)
• Summer 1996
• Winter 1995/96
• Summer 1995
• Winter 1994/95
• Autumn 1994
• Spring 1994
• Winter 1993/94
• Summer 1992
• MDMA research: more than I bargained for...

Psychobiologic Effects of MDMA in Humans
Investigators: Charles S. Grob, MD, and Russell E. Poland, Ph.D.
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center - Torrance, California, USA
Sponsor: MAPS, Harbor/UCLA
E-mail: Charles Grob; grob@humc.edu, Russell Poland; poland@humc.edu
FDA-approved Phase 1 dose-response safety study .25 to 2.25 mg/kg, dose administration phase completed, data for .25 to .75 mg/kg published. Data for 1.00 to 2.25 mg/kg being analysed for publication.

Published papers:

Chang, L, Ernst, T, Grob, CS and Poland, RE (1999) Cerebral 1H MRS Alterations in Recreational 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "Ecstasy") Users. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging 10:521-526.

Grob, C.S. and Poland, R.E. (1997) MDMA. In: Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook, Third Edition, Lowinson, J.H, Ruiz, P, Millman, R.B, Langrod, J.G. (Eds), Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, pp. 269-275.

Grob CS, Poland RE, Chang L, and Ernst T (1996) Psychobiologic effects of 3,4- methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in humans: methodological considerations and preliminary observations, Behav Brain Res, 73:103-107.