If you have typed "clinicaltrials.gov ibogaine recruiting united states" into a search bar, you are almost certainly looking for one of two things: a way to receive ibogaine legally inside the United States, or evidence that the science is finally moving.
The honest answer involves both good news and a hard limitation, and the difference between them comes down to a single word buried in the registry entry: observational.
This article walks through what is actually listed on the federal registry as of August 2026, what each study does and does not offer participants, and how to read a ClinicalTrials.gov entry without drawing the wrong conclusion. Every study identifier below was pulled directly from the ClinicalTrials.gov API and verified before publication. For the broader body of published literature behind these trials, our ibogaine research hub collects the peer-reviewed evidence base in one place.
The short answer: one recruiting study, and it does not administer ibogaine
As of this writing, a registry query for ibogaine studies with a recruiting status in the United States returns exactly one active listing:
NCT07226570 — "Mapping Ibogaine Neural Dynamics in Opioid Use Disorder"
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Status | Recruiting |
| Study type | Observational |
| Sponsor | University of California, Irvine |
| Site | Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute, UC Irvine, California |
| Condition | Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) |
| Target enrollment | 20 participants |
| Start date | September 8, 2025 |
That word observational is the whole story, and it is the detail that sends people down the wrong path more than any other.
An interventional trial gives participants the drug under study. An observational study does not. Researchers observe, measure, and document outcomes in people whose treatment decisions are made outside the study protocol. Enrolling in an observational ibogaine study does not mean a research team will administer ibogaine to you inside the United States.
This is not a technicality. It is the difference between a treatment pathway and a measurement project — and it is why so many people arrive at the registry hopeful and leave confused.
Ibogaine remains a Schedule I substance under United States federal law. No registry listing changes that, and any program claiming to provide legal ibogaine treatment inside the U.S. today warrants extreme scrutiny. We cover the statutory picture in detail in our guide to whether ibogaine is legal in the United States.
Why UC Irvine's study still matters enormously
It would be easy to read "observational, 20 participants" and dismiss it. That would be a mistake.
The stated aim — mapping ibogaine's neural dynamics in opioid use disorder — targets the single largest gap in the ibogaine evidence base. We have decades of clinical observation and a growing set of outcome studies suggesting ibogaine interrupts opioid dependence in ways conventional treatment does not. What we have far less of is high-resolution neurobiological data explaining why.
Outcome data tells regulators that something happened. Mechanistic data tells them what happened and why it is reproducible. The second kind is what moves a Schedule I compound toward legitimate clinical adoption, and it is what the FDA will want long before approval is realistic.
That a major research university — through an established institute — is committing to this work signals institutional confidence that did not exist five years ago. Twenty participants is a small number. It is also twenty more high-quality neuroimaging datasets than the field had before. If you want the underlying pharmacology in plain language, our explainer on how ibogaine works at the receptor and neuroplasticity level covers the mechanisms this study is designed to measure.
The rest of the U.S. registry picture
Recruiting status is a narrow filter. Widen it and the American research landscape fills in considerably:
NCT04313712 — Stanford University (California). Observational, 30 participants, active but no longer recruiting. This is the lineage behind Stanford's widely reported work on ibogaine outcomes in veterans, which produced some of the most striking functional and psychiatric improvement figures published in the field. We break the findings down in our analysis of Stanford's ibogaine study and its 88% reduction in PTSD symptoms.
NCT07717866 — Axial Therapeutic Research (California). Observational, 52 participants, active and not recruiting. One of the larger U.S. observational cohorts on the registry.
NCT06810765 — Johns Hopkins University (Maryland). A Phase 2 interventional study — the design that would have administered ibogaine on U.S. soil — listed as withdrawn with zero enrollment.
That last entry deserves a moment. A withdrawn study means it never enrolled a single participant. The registry does not always explain why, and it would be irresponsible to speculate. But it is a fair illustration of how difficult interventional Schedule I research remains in the United States, even at an institution with Johns Hopkins' psychedelic research infrastructure and regulatory experience.
The pattern across all four American entries is consistent: the observational studies proceed, the interventional one did not.
Where interventional ibogaine research is actually happening
Every completed interventional trial on the registry ran outside the United States:
- NCT05029401 — atai Therapeutics, United Kingdom. Phase 1/2, 116 participants. Completed. The largest interventional ibogaine-class study on the registry.
- NCT06480981 — DemeRx NB, United Kingdom. Phase 1, 55 participants. Completed. This one studies noribogaine, ibogaine's long-lived active metabolite, which several developers consider a more controllable therapeutic candidate.
- NCT04003948 — ICEERS, Spain. Phase 2, 20 participants. Completed.
- NCT03380728 — University of São Paulo, Brazil. Phase 2, 9 participants. Completed.
The geography is not an accident. Jurisdictions where ibogaine is unscheduled or explicitly permitted can run interventional protocols without the regulatory overhead that Schedule I status imposes. That regulatory asymmetry is precisely why physician-supervised treatment developed in countries like Mexico decades before American research caught up, and why ibogaine for opioid dependence has a substantial international clinical track record that the U.S. registry does not reflect.
One further caution when reading the registry: NCT05516823, a 1,000-participant observational listing, carries a status of "unknown," meaning its record has not been verified recently. Unknown-status entries should not be treated as active.
How to read a ClinicalTrials.gov listing properly
If you are evaluating any study yourself, check these five fields before anything else:
- Study type. Interventional means the protocol administers the treatment. Observational means it does not. This single field determines whether participation could involve receiving ibogaine.
- Overall status. Recruiting, active-not-recruiting, completed, withdrawn, terminated, and unknown mean very different things. Only recruiting and not yet recruiting accept new participants.
- Location. A U.S. sponsor does not guarantee a U.S. site, and a listing can span multiple countries.
- Eligibility criteria. Ibogaine research applies rigorous cardiac screening. Ibogaine affects cardiac conduction and can prolong the QT interval, so criteria around cardiac history, electrolytes, and concurrent medications are strict — and they exist for good reason.
- Contact information. Legitimate recruiting studies list a named investigator or coordinator. Apply through that contact, never through a third-party intermediary offering to place you in a trial.
Read the full record on ClinicalTrials.gov directly rather than relying on any summary, including this one. Registry entries are updated by sponsors and can change.
What this means if you are seeking treatment now
For someone in active opioid dependence, the registry offers a difficult message. There is currently no interventional ibogaine trial enrolling in the United States. The one recruiting American study is observational, and enrolling in it is not a route to treatment.
People facing that gap generally consider three paths: waiting for the U.S. research and policy pipeline to mature, pursuing conventional evidence-based care such as buprenorphine or methadone maintenance, or seeking physician-supervised ibogaine treatment at a licensed clinic in a jurisdiction where it is legal.
None of these is universally right. What matters far more than the choice itself is the medical rigor applied to it. If you are evaluating any provider, the non-negotiables are pre-treatment cardiac screening including ECG, comprehensive bloodwork with magnesium and potassium correction, continuous cardiac monitoring throughout dosing, an on-site physician rather than an on-call one, and emergency protocols with hospital transfer arrangements. Our clinic safety checklist and red-flag guide walks through how to verify each of these before committing.
The overwhelming majority of serious ibogaine adverse events trace back to inadequate screening, unmanaged cardiac risk, or undisclosed drug interactions — not to ibogaine administered under proper medical supervision. That is the single most important thing to understand about safety in this field.
The direction of travel
The U.S. registry in 2026 shows a field in transition. Interventional work happens abroad; American institutions are building the mechanistic and observational foundation that regulatory approval will eventually require. State-level research funding has accelerated sharply, and mechanistic studies like UC Irvine's are exactly the input the FDA will demand.
The registry is a lagging indicator. It records what has cleared institutional review and secured funding — not what is under discussion. On that measure, one recruiting mechanistic study at a major American university represents genuine forward motion, even if it is not the answer most searchers were hoping to find.
We track new registry entries and published findings as they appear in the MindScape ibogaine research hub.
Study details verified against the ClinicalTrials.gov API v2 on August 2, 2026. Registry records are maintained by study sponsors and change without notice; confirm all details directly on ClinicalTrials.gov before acting on them.
This article is educational and is not medical advice. Ibogaine carries documented cardiac risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Discuss any treatment decision with a qualified physician who knows your full medical history. If you are in crisis in the United States, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Begin Your Journey
MindScape Retreat offers medically supervised ibogaine treatment in Cozumel, Mexico. Speak with our clinical team to learn if you are a candidate.
