Barrow Neurological Institute gets $5M Arizona health grant for brain injury drug trial
The grant is for a five-year trial, and Barrow Neurological Institute plans to enroll its first participant in 2027
BY DOUGLAS SANTO
Aug 9, 2026, 7:17 PM
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Barrow Neurological Institute received a $5 million grant from the Arizona Department of Health Services to conduct a trial investigating how ibogaine can help with neurological disorders like traumatic brain injuries
“Ibogaine is in the category of psychoplastigens or psychedelics. It is a compound that occurs naturally,” Dr. Susan Criswell, Barrow’s Chief Medical Officer for Clinical Research, told KTAR News 92.3 FM. “In this case, of course, we’ll be using a synthesized version of that. There has been some pretty exciting research to show that it might be helpful to folks with traumatic brain injury, and we would like to test that further.”
Ibogaine has been used internationally in studies that have shown improvements in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, cognitive function and quality of life in veterans
The grant is for a five-year trial, and Barrow Neurological Institute plans to enroll its first participant in 2027
Dr. Criswell said Barrow will assess the participants, as well as conduct MRI and EEG studies, to understand how their brain is functioning before administering the ibogainex months after administration and then repeat the studies to see the effects of the drug
“Commonly, people with traumatic brain injuries can have difficulties with memory, with executive functioning, sort of with their cognition and thinking,” Dr. Criswell added. “Often they can have comorbid depression, they can have anxiety, they can have PTSD and also just general challenges with performing everyday tasks of living and activities of daily living.”
This clinical trial will be the first one in the United States to use ibogaine
“Roughly one-half of individuals with traumatic brain injuries experience incomplete recovery or lingering symptoms after six months,” Dr. Criswell said in a press release. “Therefore, we are excited to begin investigating ibogaine as a potential new therapy for individuals in our community and across Arizona who are suffering from the long-term effects of neurologic injury.”
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Heidi Hommel contributed to this report
