A Vancouver pharmaceutical company has dosed its first Veteran patient with a GMP-certified synthetic psilocybin drug (APEX-52) in the comfort of their own home.
Apex Labs announced on Wednesday that its Phase 2B trial of APEX-52 had progressed to the patient dosing phase. The trial is aimed at treating anxiety and depression associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the Veterans’ community.
The news follows Apex receiving Health Canada approval for the take-home trial last October in what the company believes is the first clinical trial of its kind in history.
"For the 1st time in North America, a patient will be able to take a pharmaceutical grade #microdose psilocybin drug product from the comfort of their own home. This trial will inform future phase 3 clinical study design and protocol development.” – Tyler Powell, CEO
— Apex Labs Ltd. (@ApexLabsLtd) January 18, 2023
Read more: Apex gets Health Canada approval for Veterans take-home psilocybin drug trial
Read more: Quebec becomes first province to pay doctors for psilocybin-assisted therapy
Apex’s CEO Tyler Powell pointed out last November that the unregulated psilocybin products Veterans’ were consuming to treat mental health issues may have unpredictable potency levels and questionable safety, which is not the case with APEX-52.
“This is a watershed moment for psilocybin research,” said Powell.
“We know Veterans are self-medicating with microdoses of unregulated psilocybin products,” continued Powell, adding that this was the first time a North American patient had taken a pharmaceutical-grade psilocybin drug in the privacy and comfort of their own residence.
Apex Labs says it has reserved the ticker symbol “APEX” with the NEO Exchange and that it currently has the NEO private company ticker symbol “APEXL.” The company has a private shareholder base of more than 300 investors and a recently updated investor deck available for viewing as well.
rowan@mugglehead.com
