David Luethi
Clinical Pharmacologist
Papers
Trials
Key Impact
A key contributor to contemporary human and preclinical pharmacology of classical psychedelics, entactogens and new psychoactive substances, particularly in controlled experimental medicine and receptor/transporter characterisation.
Background & Research
David Luethi is a clinical pharmacologist and research scientist known for his extensive work on the pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and safety pharmacology of psychedelics, entactogens and designer stimulants. Working closely with Matthias Liechti and other investigators in Switzerland, he has been a substantive contributor to phase I experimental medicine trials in healthy volunteers (including crossover studies of LSD, MDMA enantiomers, mescaline and psilocybin), as well as translational laboratory studies that characterise monoamine transporter and receptor interactions and metabolic pathways of psychoactive compounds.
Luethi's body of work spans controlled human dosing studies (absolute oral bioavailability and bioequivalence of LSD formulations; interaction studies such as LSD after paroxetine pre‑administration), comparative acute-effect trials, and in vitro/in vivo investigations of metabolism and receptor pharmacology of novel and classical substances. His research has informed safety considerations, dosing and bioequivalence for clinical research, contributed to mechanistic understanding of drug–receptor interactions, and helped bridge preclinical findings with clinical trial design in modern psychedelic science.