Filament Supplies Botanical Psilocybin To Canadian Researchers, Inks Global Licensing Deal

Clinical-stage natural psychedelics company Filament Health FLHLF will supply psilocybin for two clinical studies funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) operating grants on mental health and Substance Use Disorders (SUDs.) 

Co-founder and CEO Benjamin Lightburn said Filament is delighted to support “this much-needed psychedelic research” in its home country and the team’s hopes to “help Canadian researchers grow the evidence base for psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy."

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Filament will donate its pharma-grade botanical psilocybin drug candidate PEX010, for the trials to assess its effects on treating both Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD) respectively.

The CIHR announced the grants back in May 2022, and this June 29 revealed their recipients are University of Calgary’s Dr. Leah Mayo for the AUD study and University Health Network’s Dr. Joshua Rosenblatt for the TRD trial.

Dr. Mayo, PI of the study taking place at the university as well as the Bloom Psychedelic Therapy and Research Institute, says AUD as a chronic and relapsing condition that causes “significant interpersonal and societal burden” and currently has few effective treatments, which makes new options “urgently needed.”

In addition to this Canadian donation, Filament has reportedly supplied its botanical psilocybin on a cost-free basis to 12 clinical trials so far taking place in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

Global Licensing Deal On Psilocybin Therapy For Eating Disorders

Meanwhile, on June 30 Filament announced it has entered into an exclusive global licensing agreement with life sciences company NeoLumina Bioscience, for PEX010 and its associated IP to be clinically and commercially developed for eating disorders by the new partner. 

PEX010 comes as an oral capsule and holds both FDA’s and Health Canada’s approvals to enter into Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials. 

The deal grants NeoLumina global exclusive use of the compound for eating disorders and designates Filament as its supplier, while the latter will receive milestone payments over the course of NeoLumina’s clinical development and marketing authorizations plus future commercial royalties on a percentage of net sales.

NeoLumina’s CEO Gaetano Morello stated that while nearly 10% of the global population suffers from an eating disorder, there are no approved drugs for it. 

In that sense, he says, the company praises its partnership with Filament, “a leader in the development of pharmaceutical-grade botanical psychedelic drug candidates,” toward clinical and commercial advancements.

On behalf of Filament, CEO Lightburn echoed the sentiment, adding that “NeoLumina is pioneering the use of psychedelics for use in a variety of mental health disorders.”

Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by Geralt on Pixabay.

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