Psilera's DMT-Derived Drug Sees Positive Results in Pre-Clinical Study

Psilera is a Florida-based biotechnology company focused on developing drugs to treat mental disorders using non-hallucinogenic derivatives from psychedelic compounds. The company is aiming to alleviate adverse effects of disorders such as anxiety, addiction and PTSD. 

On Thursday, Psilera announced in a press release that one of its proprietary drugs, PSIL-002, saw positive test results from in vivo preclinical studies. The PSIL-002 is a derivative of DMT, a drug that emits the effects of a naturally-occurring chemical reaction in humans. 

What The Study Found: The pre-clinical studies on PSIL-002 found that the drug was safe, well-tolerated and non-hallucinogenic in doses administered to mice. As part of the study, scientists gave mice different doses of the PSIL-002 drug, ranging from .05mg to 100mg. No matter the size of the dose administered, there were no adverse effects. 

“This biological data is key to our vision of reducing side effects such as hallucinations while further optimizing classical psychedelics into next-generation drugs,” said Dr. Chris Witowski, co-founder and CEO of Psilera. 

“Compounds like PSIL-002 have the potential to reach new patient populations in need with greater access than current models, especially for those suffering from conditions where hallucinations may be undesirable,” Dr. Witowski added.

Recently, more and more biotech companies have explored the opportunity of using psychedelic compounds to treat mental issues that affect millions of Americans and potentially billions worldwide. In fact, last week the Drug Enforcement Agency announced that it raised its quota for psychedelics like MDMA, psilocybin and DMT. Although Psilera is not a publically traded company, yet, there are plenty and they include Cybin Inc CYBN, Mind Medicine Inc MNMD and Atai Life Sciences NV ATAI.