Two Psychedelics Drug Development Companies Work To Produce Novel Plant-Based Compounds For Mental Health Disorders

Filament Health Corp. FLHLF and Jaguar Health, Inc. JAGX have signed a letter of intent for a collaboration agreement. The deal would allow for the extension of both companies’ skillsets towards creating pharmaceutical-grade, standardized drug candidates for diagnoses such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and social anxiety disorder, as well as partner with a potential future licensee regarding the development and commercialization of these.

Each company’s original goal is to produce naturally-derived botanical medicines. While Filament is a clinical-stage natural psychedelic drug development company, Jaguar is a commercial stage pharmaceuticals company focused on developing novel, plant-based, non-opioid prescription medicines for people and animals with GI distress, including chronic, debilitating diarrhea. The partnership is aimed at better identifying and standardizing new entheogens, and eventually patenting those that prove successful for treatments.

On Filament’s work, the company’s CEO Benjamin Lightburn said, "Filament is a leader in the development of botanical medicines, and we are dedicated to supporting the treatment of mental health conditions through our expertise and technology. We have developed novel manufacturing and standardization techniques which we have applied to psilocybin, psilocin and ayahuasca."

Steven King, Ph.D., is Jaguar's Chief Sustainable Supply, Ethnobotanical Research & IP Officer and head of the company's Entheogen Therapeutics Initiative (ETI). Jaguar's ETI aims to discover and develop novel compounds derived from psychedelic and psychoactive plants for treatment of mood disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, addiction, and mental health disorders. 

The Role Of Each Company In The Deal

Under this partnership, Jaguar will be responsible for the identification of plants that may offer novel mechanisms of action as well as for botanical drug development and the raw material supply chain. Filament will be in charge of developing the manufacturing techniques in order to produce standardized, pharmaceutical-grade drug candidates. 

Additionally, Jaguar's president, CEO and founder Lisa Conte noted that, "Jaguar's core team began focusing more than 30 years ago on the development and commercialization of plant-based prescription medicines, and our crofelemer product, approved by the U.S. FDA for the symptomatic relief of noninfectious diarrhea in adults with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral therapy, is the only oral plant-based prescription medicine approved under FDA Botanical Guidance. Filament's expertise in natural product chemistry and drug development allows for the mobilization of a key asset we have generated over 30 years –a library of 2,300 medicinal plants and 3,500 plant extracts, all from firsthand ethnobotanical investigation by Jaguar and our ETI Scientific Strategy Team (SST)."

The ETI SST is set to contribute to the collaboration as well. The team consists of leading and globally renowned ethnobotanists, physicians, pharmacologists, and experts in natural product chemistry and neuropharmacology. Some of the names included are ethnobotanist Michael J. Balick, physician Thomas Carlson, pharmacologist Pravin Chaturvedi and anthropologist Wade Davis. 

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