Psilocybin has been studied in the past but the research has stopped

Psilocybin has been studied in the past but the research has stopped, academic centers have helped to resurrect interest in more recent years, overcoming constraints on the study of the molecule to generate evidence of its effectiveness in hard to treat patients.

Following the reopened path the company has raised #31 million in a series A round and generated data from healthy volunteers on the safety of psilocybin therapy. Compass has raised money for the next steps in the process with the end of a phase 2b near. The series B will allow the company to run several trials that will help to design the phase 3, and through these studies the company hopes to gain better understandings of how psilocybin interacts with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and other drugs to have a clearer idea of the roles therapy with psilocybin could have.

George Goldsmith, CEO and Co-founder, COMPASS Pathways, said

“Too many people are suffering with treatment resistant depression. We are committed to developing innovations, such as psilocybin therapy, to address this rapidly growing problem. Patents help ensure sustainable funding to conduct the highest quality clinical research to bring the best new therapies to patients who urgently need them. If this research demonstrates psilocybin therapy is a safe and effective option for patients, we will price it responsibly with the goal of making it as affordable and accessible as possible.”

Currently psilocybin is listed as being a Schedule 1 controlled drug and as such it is subject to restrictions. Having managed to navigate through various issues regarding the drug to get it to its sites the company doesn’t expect to have those same difficulties moving into phase 3, the knowledge and resources obtained during the phase 2B will be utilized to help ease the transition into the larger study.

The series B will also support work to improve the therapist training program ahead of the phase 3. Preparations for the phase 3 are continuing around current lockdowns, but some of the partners stopped activities and caused the biotech to halt participant enrollment into the study which was hoped to have been completed by the end of 2020.

Read the full article at WordHealth.Net