Biopharma company Psilera Inc. announced it has selected its first clinical candidate, a novel drug sharing several of psilocybin’s properties but without the hallucinogenic effects.
Psilera’s work involves rethinking natural psychoactive substances into “effective and insurance-backed take-home therapies,” based on a drug discovery engine that combines novel syntheses of new compounds with a tech platform to design next-generation neurological drugs.
CEO Dr. Chris Witowski said the new PSIL-006 “epitomizes” the company’s patient-centric values, potentially providing new treatment options to a larger patient population.
PSIL-006 is a non-hallucinogenic serotonin receptor 6 (5-HT6) and 2A (5-HT2A) dual agonist that selectively reduces hallucinogenic effects while retaining rapid therapeutic benefits.
The novel compound was able to induce rapid and positive behavioral changes representative of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD,) anxiety, depression and cognitive disorders when directly compared to psilocybin’s mimic, psilacetin, in preclinical, in-vivo studies.
Psilera states that the unique activity seen in preclinical models represents a novel mechanism of action for addiction and psychiatric disorders with fewer side effects, PSIL-006 could enable take-home dosing to greatly enhance the treatment scale over psilocybin and other psychedelics.
See also: Psyched: New Psilocybin Forms, LSD Anxiety Study, UK's Parliamentary Debate And More
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