PharmaDrug Inc has announced the selection of its final lead drug candidate from a short list of six N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) analogs as the company advances its primary open-angle glaucoma research program in partnership with the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Research (TIBI)
In a statement, PharmaDrug chief scientific officer Paul Van Slyke said the collaboration was underlined by the company’s commitment “to provide innovative, life-changing medications to patients at risk of vision loss as a consequence of insufficiently treated glaucoma.”
The company said that the lead candidate was chosen because it displayed superior potency in two in vitro bioassays on two relevant human cell types.
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It also showed a favourable toxicity profile, the company noted, and the physical, chemical, and metabolic properties necessary to fabricate a proprietary medical device capable of conveniently delivering sub-psychedelic levels of the drug to the front of the eye over a sustained period.
PharmaDrug said the collective results from the first phase of its research agreement with TIBI would be used to draft a provisional patent application detailing a novel treatment for primary open-angle glaucoma.
With the lead candidate selected, PharmaDrug said that it would be advancing its glaucoma research program by entering into a second sponsored research collaboration with TIBI.
This research collaboration will undertake mechanism of action studies, optimize medical device drug release characteristics, in vitro host-species justification studies, and evaluation of drug efficacy in an investigative new drug (IND)-enabling study, with the goal of filing an IND application with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct clinical trials.
Based in Toronto, PharmaDrug is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development, and commercialization of controlled substances and natural medicines, such as psychedelics and cannabis.
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