Psyence Group Inc (CSE:PSYG) announced it is partnering with UK contract research organization Clerkenwell Health to pursue psychedelic palliative care trials.
Toronto-based Psyence is developing clinical trials for palliative care patients who are facing a terminal diagnosis or persistent medical issue.
Both Psyence and Clerkenwell will work together to design and deliver a clinical trial in the UK.
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The trial is being designed by Dr Dingle Spence, a palliative care specialist and Psyence’s medical advisor.
“There is an historic opportunity for psychedelics such as psilocybin to play a significant role in palliative care,” Spence said in a statement.
“We are interested in helping alleviate the many symptoms and conditions experienced by people dealing with serious illness including anxiety and depression, existential distress, quality of life concerns, and issues around grief and bereavement, using a palliative care lens that will provide a more holistic approach to their therapy.”
Psyence has a federally licensed commercial psilocybin cultivation and production facility that produces psilocybin-yielding mushrooms for research centres and universities. The GMP-standard facility is equipped with specialized equipment to ensure optimum growing conditions and efficient harvesting and packaging.
Psyence Group CEO Neil Maresky called Clerkenwell the “ideal partner” on the clinical trial.
“As we embark on our journey to commence a clinical trial, we are excited to see the promising results from other early-stage clinical trials, which show the efficacy of psychedelic therapies across a multitude of mental health conditions,” Maresky said.
“The United Kingdom is increasingly becoming a destination for medical psychedelic trials and a number of listed companies have successfully established and completed their Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials in the market. However, these companies have typically focused their research on synthetic compounds, while Psyence’s trial will use natural psilocybin produced at our federally licensed facility in Lesotho in Southern Africa.”
Psyence has four key divisions: Psyence Production, Psyence Therapeutics, Psyence Function, and Psyence Experience, and operations in Canada, US, the UK, Jamaica, Brazil, South Africa, and Australia.
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