The doors of perception are making more inroads with the mainstream medical community.
On Thursday, psychedelic drug discovery company CaaMTech, Inc. said it has entered into an agreement with a wing of the National Institutes of Health.
As part of a cooperative research and development agreement with the Designer Drug Research Unit (DDRU) — at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, which is part of the NIH — CaaMTech will be researching synthetic tryptamine-based compounds.
The DDRU studies the basic and preclinical pharmacology of new psychoactive substances, which helps to determine the problematic use and clinical utility of tryptamine-based designer drugs, CaaMTech said in a statement.
Tryptamine-based compounds include naturally occurring psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin, DMT, and ibogaine, as well as synthetic psychedelics such as LSD.
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CaaMtech CEO Andrew Chadeayne said the collaboration represents another step toward safer, more effective psychedelic treatment options.
“We are eager to work with NIDA to eliminate ambiguity in psychedelic research through quantitative science with precise amounts of rigorously characterized compounds,” he said.
The collaborative research aims to fill several gaps in the scientific understanding of synthetic tryptamine-based compounds, CaaMTech says, stating that existing knowledge mostly stems from anecdotal reports.
“The full scope of pharmacological effects of many tryptamine-based compounds has never been scientifically studied,” the company said. “To address this problem, CaaMTech has synthesized a library of tryptamine-based compounds and determined their composition and purity using x-ray crystallography: the gold standard for chemical characterization.”
According to the company, research conducted by the DDRU at NIDA IRP will assess the pharmacological target profiles and efficacies, pharmacokinetic profiles, behavioural efficacies, and physiological effects of synthetic tryptamine-based compounds using in vitro, or in a test tube, and in vivo, or on an animal, analysis.
CaaMTech said it will supply purified, crystalline tryptamine-based compounds for the research, as well as expertise, advice, and data support to complete the studies.
The studies will provide much-needed data about synthetic tryptamine-based compounds and allow researchers to compare these compounds to more thoroughly-studied compounds such as psilocybin, which the company says can open the door to the development of safer, more effective psychedelic drugs.
“We look forward to advancing the best candidates into an FDA approval process to ultimately improve the available options for treating mental health disorders,” Chadeayne said.
Top image of LSD blotter paper via public domain
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