This collaboration serves as validation to our approach and scientific reputation within the psychedelic and biotech industry more broadly. We look forward to building out the next generation of mental health and addiction medications in collaboration with NIDA
TAMPA, Fla. (PRWEB)
August 26, 2021
Psilera Inc. (“Psilera”), a Florida-based biotechnology company specializing in the clinical development of psychedelics and analogues, has finalized a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (the “Agreement”) with NIDA to initiate critical preclinical studies on Psilera’s burgeoning drug pipeline.
NIDA is a federal scientific research institute under the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is the largest supporter of the world’s research on drug use and addiction. Dr. Michael Baumann, Director of the Designer Drug Research Unit (DDRU) at NIDA, and postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Grant Glatfelter, will collaborate with Psilera to determine drug-target interactions with Psilera’s lead new chemical entities (NCEs) as well as metabolite profiling and behavioral effects in vivo.
“We’re extremely excited to forge a collaboration with NIDA,” said Dr. Chris Witowski, Co-Founder and CEO of Psilera. “This collaboration serves as validation to our approach and scientific reputation within the psychedelic and biotech industry more broadly. We look forward to building out the next generation of mental health and addiction medications in collaboration with NIDA.”
There will be two primary initiatives assessed by the NIDA collaboration. The first focuses on studying pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of an intranasal formulation of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in preclinical animal studies. Psilera has actively filed patents for the novel DMT intranasal formulation to be studied by NIDA researchers. DMT is inactive when administered orally without co-administration of other drugs to reduce metabolic breakdown. Current drug delivery options include intravenous administration using needles, but administration through the nasal cavity can offer significant advantages over intravenous delivery for patient comfort and assurance.
Providing comfort and peace of mind to patients is centric to Psilera successfully scaling commercial efforts to bring innovative DMT therapies to clinical populations in need. Innovative methods with direct-to-brain delivery combined with DMT’s short duration of action could lead to a revolutionary new line of patient-friendly psychiatric and anti-addiction medicines.
“It is important for us to understand how DMT and any similar compounds Psilera makes will potentially work in the body to avoid undesirable effects or potential for misuse. The research in collaboration with NIDA will greatly enhance our understanding of these pharmacological properties and aid our future studies targeting alcohol use disorder,” said Dr. Jackie von Salm, Co-Founder and CSO of Psilera Inc.
The second research initiative outlined in the Agreement will determine the molecular targets of new chemical entities (NCEs) from Psilera and will be a major catalyst for Psilera to efficiently identify lead candidates using its proprietary BRAIN database, a computational chemistry platform responsible for de-risking and developing NCEs for Psilera. This collaboration and the additional data it can provide will be significant as Psilera builds one of the most robust datasets for potential non-hallucinogenic and hallucinogenic psychedelic therapies.
About Psilera – Psilera Inc. is a psychedelic-based biotechnology company developing its proprietary neuromodulator pipeline to target mental health disorders. With a proven and award-winning executive team, Psilera leverages research strengths from the pharmaceutical and cannabis industries to repurpose psychoactive natural products into patient-centric treatments. New formulations tailoring the therapeutic effects of DMT will improve treatment scalability and patient compliance further expanding addressable markets. Psilera’s technology platform (BRAIN) will identify next-generation compounds with modified psychedelic and therapeutic effects in the areas of mood, cognitive, and substance use disorders.
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