Mindset Pharma Inc (CSE:MSET, OTCQB:MSSTF) said it has chosen a pair of psychedelic drug clinical candidates from its Family 2 program of potential mental health medications, to advance its program to IND enabling studies.
The lead candidate MSP-2020, and back-up drug candidate MSP-2003, have been selected after extensive preclinical screening studies done in collaboration with the McQuade Center for Strategic Research and Development LLC (MSRD), a member of the global Otsuka family of pharmaceutical companies.
In side-by-side comparisons to psilocybin and psilocin, the two drug candidates elicit in vitro and behavioral responses consistent with a stronger and shorter acting psychedelic effect than psilocybin and a significantly reduced half-life.
READ: Mindset Pharma provides strategic intellectual property license to Cybin for preclinical psychedelic drug research
Mindset CEO James Lanthier said there's the possibility to advance to clinical human trials.
"These candidates, when compared to psilocin and psilocybin, showed the potential to be stronger and faster acting. The preclinical results continue to support our belief that next-generation psychedelic drug compounds have the potential to be superior treatment options for mental health,” Lanthier said in a statement.
“Our teams continue to advance our collaboration to bring this innovative therapeutic into first-in-human clinical development and ultimately to patients in medical need as rapidly as possible," he said.
Toronto-based Mindset Pharma said MSP-2020 and MSP-2003 are both novel and patentable compounds. They are covered under Mindset's United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent number 17/387,864, titled "3-Pyrrolidine-Indole Derivatives as Serotonergic Psychedelic Agents for the Treatment of CNS Disorders." Mindset has received a notice of allowance from the USPTO for this application.
The drug candidates are capable of penetrating the central nervous system and exhibit high oral bioavailability in different species, according to Mindset Pharma.
The company said both candidates are being developed as next-generation psychedelic drugs for the treatment of mental health disorders with IND enabling studies to be initiated by a leading global contract research organization in late 2022.
Mindset Pharma is a drug discovery company developing psychedelic and non-psychedelic medications to treat neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders with unmet medical needs.
Contact the author at susie@proactiveinvestors.com