Scientific References
This information is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice.
This page compiles peer-reviewed research on iboga and ibogaine. It's organized by topic and includes a note on evidence quality, because not all research is created equal, and understanding what we know well versus what we know provisionally matters.
Pharmacology
Glick, S.D. & Maisonneuve, I.M. (1998). Mechanisms of antiaddictive actions of ibogaine. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 844, 214–226.
Baumann, M.H., Rothman, R.B., Pablo, J.P., & Mash, D.C. (2001). In vivo neurobiological effects of ibogaine and its O-desmethyl metabolite, 12-hydroxyibogamine (noribogaine), in rats. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 297(2), 531–539.
He, D.Y., McGough, N.N., Bhatt, S.J., et al. (2005). Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor mediates the desirable actions of the anti-addiction drug ibogaine against alcohol consumption. Journal of Neuroscience, 25(3), 619–628.
Clinical Outcomes
Schenberg, E.E., de Castro Comis, M.A., Chaves, B.R., & da Silveira, D.X. (2014). Treating drug dependence with the aid of ibogaine: A retrospective study. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 28(11), 993–1000.
Brown, T.K. & Alper, K. (2018). Treatment of opioid use disorder with ibogaine: Detoxification and drug use outcomes. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 44(1), 24–36.
Noller, G.E., Frampton, C.M., & Yazar-Klosinski, B. (2018). Ibogaine treatment outcomes for opioid dependence from a twelve-month follow-up observational study. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 44(1), 37–46.
Safety
Koenig, X., Kovar, M., Boehm, S., Sandtner, W., & Hilber, K. (2014). Anti-addiction drug ibogaine inhibits hERG channels: A cardiac arrhythmia risk. Addiction Biology, 19(2), 237–239.
Alper, K., Stajic, M., & Gill, J.R. (2012). Fatalities temporally associated with the ingestion of ibogaine. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 57(2), 398–412.
Litjens, R.P. & Brunt, T.M. (2016). How toxic is ibogaine? Clinical Toxicology, 54(4), 297–302.
Ethnography
Fernandez, J.W. (1982). Bwiti: An Ethnography of the Religious Imagination in Africa. Princeton University Press
Alper, K.R., Lotsof, H.S., & Kaplan, C.D. (2008). The ibogaine medical subculture. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 115(1), 9–24.
Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance (GITA). (2015). Clinical Guidelines for Ibogaine-Assisted Detoxification.
Evidence quality, what we know well and what we don't.
Ibogaine pharmacology and receptor binding profile, cardiac risks and QT prolongation mechanism, short-term opioid withdrawal interruption.
Medium-term outcomes (3–6 months), antidepressant effects, noribogaine's role in sustained anti-addictive effects.
Long-term outcomes (1+ year), optimal dosing protocols, comparative efficacy against other treatments, ibogaine for non-addiction conditions (Parkinson's, autoimmune, TBI).
What this means practically: we know ibogaine works for opioid withdrawal interruption. We know it carries cardiac risk. We have reasonable data on medium-term outcomes. Everything beyond that, while promising, needs more research. Anyone who tells you ibogaine is a guaranteed cure for anything is either uninformed or lying.