Gb Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: GBLX) is developing kava formulations that are not psychedelic nor cause altered states of consciousness but are mood-altering and may help with depression and anxiety.
The Las Vegas-based biopharmaceutical firm announced Monday that it wants to address the growing need for alternative mental health medications that treat some mental disorders and compete with the emerging billion-dollar psychedelics companies.
Gb Sciences said it received positive preclinical results supporting the efficacy of its proprietary kava-based formulas designed to treat anxiety. The results come from an ongoing preclinical study of kava formulations to treat depression or anxiety.
The company says that while the emerging psychedelic-based treatments may be a good option for some people suffering from anxiety or depression, there are significant limitations that may prevent psychedelics from becoming widely adopted such as negative stigma, lack of scientific research defining pros and cons and unwanted psychoactive side effects.
Kava is a name for the Piper methysticum plant which grows in the Pacific Islands and is consumed by some Polynesian and Micronesian cultures because of its sedative, anesthetic and euphoric effects. The active ingredients of the plant are called kavalactones which act on GABA and other receptors.
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“While kava-based formulations are not well publicized, we believe they hold significant potential for the treatment of anxiety and depression without the hallucinogenic effects of more recently popularized treatments based on classical psychedelic molecules,” said Gb Sciences President and Chief Science Officer Dr. Andrea Small-Howard.
“Gb Sciences has leveraged its patent-pending platform, PhAROS or Phytomedical Analytics for Research Optimization at Scale, to identify novel drug candidates based on potentially synergistic combinations of kava plant compounds designed to address these serious mental health disorders.”
Gb Sciences uses AI-enabled drug discovery technology to develop kava plant-inspired mental health treatments and currently has additional kava-inspired formulations being tested at the National Research Council of Canada through its Canadian subsidiary, GbS Global Biopharma, Inc.
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