A new collaboration is aiming to develop psychedelic medicines to address the unique needs of people living with a variety of mental health conditions.
The partnership to develop the psychedelic medicines is between the McQuade Center for Strategic Research and Development (MSRD) and Mindset Pharma.
MSRD has made a $5m (£3.69m) investment to support the discovery and development of novel chemical entity assets of Mindset Pharma. It will support the development of two families of Mindset’s novel psychedelic compounds through Phase Ia and Phase IIb clinical trials.
“Exploring multiple paths is essential as we work to address the unique needs of individuals living with mental health conditions,” said Robert McQuade, Ph.D., president of MSRD, a member of the global Otsuka family of pharmaceutical companies.
“We look forward to collaborating with Mindset on these assets and are hopeful that medical psychedelics could be approved to treat mental illness in the future,” added McQuade who is also chief strategic officer at Otsuka.
James Lanthier, chief executive officer of Mindset, added: “It is our great pleasure to collaborate with MSRD, a member company of Otsuka, to further the development of two of our families of novel psychedelic compounds.
“We look forward to leveraging their extensive experience in drug development and CNS indications to accelerate and de-risk our development pathway as we prepare to launch clinical trials.
“There is a high unmet need for innovative treatments of mental illness. This collaboration further validates our belief that optimised and patentable next-generation psychedelic compounds will be the future of treatments for mental illness.”
“This transformational transaction is a validation of what our team has accomplished over the last several years,” said Richard Patricio, chairman of Mindset’s board.
“We are ecstatic that Otsuka has chosen to collaborate with Mindset in the novel psychedelic drug development space and see this as a pivotal moment in Mindset’s maturation.
“Our team is excited to work closely with MSRD to help meet the unmet needs of millions of people worldwide suffering with a variety of mental disorders. The future is truly exciting.”
MSRD and Mindset may agree to expand the collaboration to continue to develop the compounds as pharmaceutical products.
[activecampaign form=52]
