History & trade names
Ibogaine has been a ritual plant, a French pharmacy tonic, an underground addiction remedy, and now a clinical-trial compound — each chapter leaving a name behind.
The trade names
The best-documented commercial name is Lambarène, a tablet sold in France between 1939 and 1966. Marketed as a physical and mental stimulant and containing roughly eight milligrams of ibogaine per tablet, it took its name from Lambaréné in Gabon. When France banned ibogaine sales in 1966, the product disappeared.
Decades later, ibogaine acquired a very different association. After Howard Lotsof noticed its ability to blunt withdrawal, it was positioned as an addiction-interruption agent under the trademark Endabuse. Drug databases also record the name Iperton. All three label ibogaine-containing products, not the plant.
The story has been retold widely in journalism and film; a feature-length ibogaine documentary is often where curious readers first encounter the split between the ceremonial plant and the isolated compound.
Ibogaine through time
- 1901Ibogaine is first isolated from Tabernanthe iboga (Dybowski & Landrin; Haller & Heckel).
- 1939–66Sold in France as Lambarène, an ~8 mg-per-tablet stimulant tonic named for Lambaréné, Gabon.
- 1962Howard Lotsof identifies ibogaine’s anti-addictive effect; it is later branded Endabuse.
- 1966The first total chemical synthesis is achieved (G. Büchi). France bans ibogaine sales.
- 1970Ibogaine is classified Schedule I in the United States.
- 2021Ibogaine HCl (development code DMX-1002) enters a regulated Phase 1/2a trial.
- 2026A US executive order and expanded state and federal funding accelerate research.