U.S. announces $100 million mental health moonshot with psychedelics in scope, aligning with Europe's moonshot call
Only days after PAREA called for a European mental health moonshot, the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) announced a $100 million mental health moonshot aimed at accelerating leading-edge treatments and developing more objective measures in behavioural health.
The Agency, created in 2022, funds high-risk, high-reward R&D areas aimed at transformative health breakthroughs, referred to as moonshots. The newly launched mental health moonshot, titled “Evidence-Based Validation & Innovation for Rapid Therapeutics in Behavioral Health” (EVIDENT), is one of the largest programmes the Agency has initiated thus far.
In its announcement, ARPA-H highlights rapid-acting approaches such as neuroplastogens alongside neuromodulation and digital therapeutics. The EVIDENT detailed call for proposals clarifies that neuroplastogens may include compounds like ketamine, ibogaine, psilocybin, LSD, and DMT.
EVIDENT focuses on generating more robust data on individual clinical outcomes and on understanding each patient's unique response to novel treatment approaches. A central aim is to validate objective, FDA-ready endpoints for rapid-acting behavioural health interventions, helping move the field beyond trial-and-error care.
The programme targets major unmet needs in anxiety, depression, substance use disorder, and PTSD, and will invest in multimodal, longitudinal data collection in registered clinical trials to enable faster, more precise treatment development.
For Europe, this is a timely benchmark. As EU discussions on the next long-term budget, the successor to Horizon Europe, and new competitiveness instruments progress in parallel, ARPA-H's move shows that major jurisdictions are now treating mental health innovation as a strategic priority. PAREA's proposal for a European mental health moonshot is designed to ensure Europe responds with the scale, infrastructure, and regulatory tools needed to expand access to quality mental health interventions.
