Psychedelics Becoming Valuable Alternatives to Conventional Mental Health Treatments - Seite 2

On February 24, Mydecine announced an exclusive partnership with Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation (API) at the University of Alberta. The partnership significantly expands Mydecine's research capacity and could accelerate both of the company's drug development programs.

"With our expanded relationship with API, we can now synthesise multiple molecules concurrently as well as run research and development and pre-clinicals on site," said Rob Roscow, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-founder of Mydecine. "We now have the ability to accelerate both natural product research and novel drug design, specifically in the field of serotonin psychedelics. This will serve to boost our patent portfolio and increase our speed to bring these drugs to market."

Companies Develop Alternative Treatment Options

Companies like Mydecine Innovations Group are working to address a vital need for new mental health treatment options. Dependence is a serious concern for many existing treatments for anxiety and depression, contributing to more than 18 million people misusing prescription drugs in the United States in 2017 alone. As of September last year, the FDA requires benzodiazepines like Pfizer's (NYSE:PFE) Xanax to come with warning labels outlining the risks of addiction, abuse, dependence, and withdrawal. Risks of serious side effects, including suicidal behavior, are cause for concern as well, causing the FDA to require warnings on drugs like Pfizer's Zoloft and Eli Lilly and Company's (NYSE:LLY) Prozac.

COMPASS Pathways (NASDAQ:CMPS) became the first company to receive breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA for a psychedelic treatment in 2018, and last year, the company became the first psychedelics company to list on a major US exchange. On February 9, COMPASS announced that the company had expanded its Discovery Center through collaborations with laboratories at UC San Diego, School of Medicine, and Medical College of Wisconsin, further developing the company's ability to develop new optimised psychedelic compounds to address unmet medical needs.

Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary Janssen received expanded use authorization from the European Commission in February for its esketamine-derived nasal spray, Spravato, developed for treatment-resistant depression. The drug had already received approval from the FDA in 2019 and has been touted as a much needed alternative to conventional antidepressants.