lbogaine found its first medical application as a neuromuscular stimulant. Sold in France under the trade name Lambarene, these 8-mg ibogaine tablets were prescribed for recovery from infectious disease, fatigue, and depression.

Almost 30 years later, the product was removed from the market after the World Health Assembly (WHA) classified ibogaine as a “substance likely to cause dependency or endanger human health.”

• Before the WHA’s ruling, the US government had funded research in the 1950s, which found that ibogaine potentiated the pain-relieving effects of morphine. It is unclear whether any evidence was found supporting ibogaine’s detoxifying effects.
• Howard Lotsoff is attributed with the discovery of ibogaine’s potential for reducing symptoms of opioid withdrawal syndrome, his first exposure to ibogaine was in 1962 as a 19-year-old heroin user living in Staten Island, New York.
• Howard Lotsoff conducted an informal experiment with 19 individuals, seven of whom were opiate-dependent. lbogaine had a similar effect for all of them, at least insofar as its detoxifying effects were concerned. Five of his seven heroin-dependent friends remained abstinent for periods ranging from six to 18 months. The others, while they were no longer physically dependent, simply reported that they did not have a desire to stop using opioids permanently.

The United States classified ibogaine as a Schedule I drug (alongside other psychedelics) indicating that it had a high potential for abuse and had no medical use.

Anecdotal and case studies convinced the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to fund animal studies.

Results from ibogaine animal studies led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve a human clinical trial for cocaine dependence. This study was not seen to fruition due to both a lack of funding and contractual disputes. NIDA cast aside ibogaine citing safety as one concern. To date there has been no completed human clinical trials in the U.S.

Health Canada placed ibogaine on the Prescription Drug after reports of adverse events from an unauthorized health product.

The addition of ibogaine to the PDL would allow Health Canada to provide more effective risk-based oversight of ibogaine: by requiring sale only pursuant to a prescription, by restricting the compounding of products containing ibogaine, and by providing enforcement agents with increased authority to seize products which do not conform with the Canadian Food and Drugs Act and Regulations.

The UK Medicines & Health Products Regulatory Agency (MKRA) approved lbogaine Phase I/Ila research studies for opioid addiction undertaken in a joint venture with DemeRex and Atai Life Sciences.