Psychedelic Firms Continue to File Patents
The Details:
- Greenstar Biosciences (CSE:GSTAR) announced the filing of a provisional patent related to the treatment of PTSD and mild traumatic brain injuries with a combination of MDMA and N-acetylcysteine (NAC).
- Mindset Pharma announced the filing of a provisional patent for a process to synthesize psilocybin and psilocin.
Why it Matters:
- Greenstar recently announced an agreement with Eleusian Biosciences Corporation to acquire 100% of the latter firm. The latest patent filing is the third in their combined portfolio.
- Euleusian has previously established a partnership with researchers at the University of Miami to study the combination of psilocybin and NAC, the company intends to add this new combination to that research partnership.
- Mindset claims their synthetic process is more efficient than other established methods, allowing them to manufacture at a lower cost and a larger scale.
- Mindset’s CEO James Lanthier notes that “Access to high quality, low-cost, psilocybin is essential to the medical psychedelic market,” making the bet that demand will increase in the near term as substances are studied further.
Decriminalize Nature Launches New Campaign In Oakland
The Details:
- Decriminalize Nature, the organization behind the decriminalization of naturally occurring psychedelics in Oakland and other jurisdictions, has put forward a measure to “provide legal protections” to “residents and facilitators to participate in plant-based healing ceremonies.”
- The measure was submitted to Noel Gallo, the same Councilmember who sponsored the decriminalization initiative.
- The proposal intends to begin with a pilot program to reach “members of these vulnerable communities [who] are not receiving adequate mental health services in our country,” per DN Chair Carlos Plazola.
Why It Matters:
- Decriminalize Nature directly takes aim at corporate interests in psychedelics, saying their measure will “protect citizens’ rights to establish their own direct relationship to naturally occurring plant medicines, without corporate intermediaries or obstruction.”
- The measure calls for the design and evaluation of micro-economic models which can be used to create opportunities for Oakland’s most vulnerable communities.
- The measure calls for further research into the substances as long as it is conducted in partnership with community organizations.
New Zealand Group Aims to Further Psychedelic Research
The Details:
- The new group, Entheos Foundation, will “raise funds for local research and education around the use of psychedelics in medicine and psychotherapy” in New Zealand.
- Entheos has a two person operations team led by Amadeus Diamond, an interdisciplinary advisory board of researchers and subject matter experts and a group of “International Associates” which includes the familiar Dr. Dennis McKenna.
- The foundation will prioritize PTSD, treatment-resistant depression and addiction syndrome.
Why it Matters:
- In New Zealand most psychedelics are Class A Drugs. Like other jurisdictions there is a stigma researchers face in engaging with these substances, Entheos appears to be the first group to attempt to tackle this head on in NZ.
- New Zealand is not completely new to psychedelics, ketamine and ibogaine therapy are currently available in New Zealand. A LSD microdosing trial is scheduled for 2021 at the University of Auckland.
- According to Entheos founder Amadeus Diamond, New Zealand has the perfect conditions for this type of research; “a small population to help extrapolate from small sample sizes, easier access to government departments like the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice, and now a legal precedent for carrying out research with class A psychedelics.”
What Else We’re Watching
MindMed Completes Dosing 18-MC Phase 1 Study: The company announced the completion of the study, and found “the dosing of 18-MC was well tolerated in humans and will help advance planning for a Phase 2a clinical trial in opioid addiction.”
Novamind Closes the Acquisition of Cedar Psychiatry: Ceder Psychiatry, a Utah based clinic, is a leader in ketamine psychiatric treatment, administering over 3,000 ketamine-assisted psychotherapy sessions and over 700 SpravatoTM (esketamine) treatments.
How the “Most Normal Person Ever” Became the Face of a Movement to Decriminalize Magic Mushrooms: The Washingtonian profiles Melissa Lavasani, the proponent of DC’s decriminalization initiative.
Michael “Zappy” Zapolin launches Mind Army: The filmmaker and activists is calling on the president to issue an executive order to immediately legalize psychedelic substances and organizing a mind army to do it.
Are magic mushroom edibles Canada’s next drug trend?: Short answer not legally, no.
