Wesana Health is to undertake a functional animal study to determine the effect of psilocybin treatment on Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and anxiety and depression.
Founded by former professional NHL hockey player, Daniel Carcillo, the emerging data-driven life sciences company, Wesana Health, will be commencing the study to explore the effect of a psilocybin-based treatment regimen on locomotor activity, as well as anxiety and depression.
The study is scheduled to begin in August 2021 and conclude in late Q3 2021, with results expected by early Q4 2021.
Psilocybin treatment for TBI, anxiety and depression
Wesana Health, which has been backed by former heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson, who said in May that “Traumatic brain injury has affected me and many people I care about, including fighters and veterans.”, is championing the development and delivery of psychedelic and naturally sourced therapies to treat traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Across the globe each year, an estimated 69 million individuals sustain a TBI, 264 million individuals are estimated to be affected by depression and 284 million individuals are estimated to be affected by an anxiety disorder.
The study follows a retrospective Pilot Study to gather quantitative data on user experiences with components of a combination therapy for treating mild to moderate TBI, anxiety and depression related to previous TBI, and migraine headaches unrelated to TBI.
CSO of Wesana, Mark Wingertzahn, PhD, commented: “The locomotor study was designed to determine whether selected combinations of doses of the test product had any effects on locomotor activity and how pronounced this effect might be.
“Preliminary results, just released, indicate all combination doses were well tolerated with no evidence of untoward drug-drug interactions. This data is extremely encouraging and enabled us to commence with the validated functional animal study in models of anxiety and depression with an active control earlier than planned.”
Two-time Stanley Cup champion turned mental and brain health champion, Carcillo, Wesana CEO, added: “Anxiety and Depression are hallmark symptoms of TBI and employing real-world human and validated animal models allows us to better understand and investigate current and potential therapies and protocols to treat a wide range of conditions with roots in the brain.”
