Psilera's New Psychedelic Compounds: A Non-Hallucinogenic Promise For Depression And Neurodegenerative Disorders?

Next-generation R&D psychedelics company Psilera Inc. shared its two proprietary DMT analogs PSIL-001 and PSIL-002’s preclinical positive results for mental health disorder treatments. 

Psilera uses machine-learning methods to map complex datasets and identify early-stage lead compounds holding fewer side effects.

In that sense, the company’s new chemical entity (NCE) pipeline contains pending-approval compounds that have shown promising antidepressant impact, with non-hallucinogenic effects when administered at controlled dosages. 

Just a single dose of PSIL-001 and PSIL-002 achieved rapid antidepressant effects. Further, both PSIL-001 and PSIL-002 in repeated doses improved learning and memory dispositions over a psilocybin mimic. 

These results reflected both compounds’ similar preclinical efficacy to that of psilacetin, from which the psychedelic active ingredient psilocin comes, and could potentially translate to the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders like dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Facing the presentation of the study findings, Psilera’s cofounder and chief scientific officer, Dr. Jackie von Salm, commented: “We are finally documenting much-needed evidence for our hypothesis that small, strategic chemical changes to existing psychedelic compounds can greatly reduce hallucinations while maintaining efficacy.”

Meanwhile, microdoses of psilocybin for well-being purposes are being currently tested in a Phase 1 clinical trial. Its aim is to study the substance’s effects without the hallucinogenic influence as well.  

Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash