Optimized psychedelic therapies: Curating drugs to create the best therapies

• Author:
• Author name

  Quantumrun Foresight
• February 10, 2023

When sampling recreational drugs, everyone reacts differently due to varying genetics. However, biotech firms are now creating psychedelic therapies designed to target a range of mental health conditions based on genetics. 

Optimized psychedelics context

Psychedelic drugs are often connected to illegal, recreational drug use. Therefore, most scientific and medical research on these substances have focused on the potential negative consequences of abuse. While there is still much unknown about psychedelic drugs, a 2020 study published in the Psychological Medicine journal has identified potential therapeutic benefits of substances like Ayahuasca, ketamine, LSD, MDMA, or psilocybin for psychiatric conditions including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These psychedelics show promising results for patients who have not responded to standard treatments.

Because of this growing acceptance of psychedelic drugs as potential mental health therapies, several countries have legalized their use under controlled doses. Biotech firms have also been developing ways to better understand each psychedelic, their unique properties, and how they can address certain mental conditions to maximize the benefits of this development. 

According to a 2017 study published in the Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews journal, psychedelic drugs, such as ketamine, have often been found to reduce suicidal thoughts in patients with acute suicidality. Psilocybin, typically in one dosage, creates significant and long-term antidepressant effects for patients who don’t respond to other treatments, according to Biological Psychiatry. These findings suggest that drugs optimized for certain genetic profiles and conditions can have long-lasting efficacy.

Disruptive impact

In 2021, New York-based Mind Medicine (MindMed) announced its plans to develop an MDMA treatment for social anxiety and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The company is constructing a drug development portfolio of novel therapies based on psychedelic substances, including psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, DMT, and an ibogaine derivative 18-MC. MindMed said it wants to discover treatments that address addiction and mental illnesses. 

There are presently no approved therapies for the core symptoms of ASD, highlighting a significant unmet need for novel therapies in this area. The economic cost of ASD in the US is predicted to reach USD $461 billion by 2025, according to MindMed. Meanwhile, 12 percent of the general population experience Social Anxiety Disorder at some point in their lives, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, emphasizing the need for additional interventions.

In 2022, Germany-based ATAI Life Sciences announced that it had made significant progress in developing mental health treatments through psychedelic drugs. One of these developments is the COMP360 psilocybin therapy for people with treatment-resistant depression. Additionally, the company is looking at re-purposing PCN-101 (a ketamine component) as a rapid-acting antidepressant that can be taken at home. So far, these studies show that there would be a quick reduction of depressive symptoms within one hour after administration, and it could potentially last for up to seven days.

ATAI is also developing treatments for PTSD using MDMA derivatives. Additionally, the company’s subsidiary, Revixla Life Sciences, is studying how Salvinorin A, a natural psychedelic compound, can treat various mental health disorders. ATAI has already started several of its clinical trials in 2022.

Implications of optimized psychedelics

Wider implications of optimized psychedelics may include: 

• Biotech startups increasingly focusing on the psychedelic drug treatment market, partnering with other biotechs and research institutions.
• Increased acceptance of recreational drugs as legitimate therapies, reducing the stigma associated with them.
• The psychedelic drug industry experiencing rapid growth throughout the 2020s, primarily driven by the optimized drug and luxury wellness markets.
• Governments monitoring how optimized psychedelics studies and tests are being conducted to ensure they remain legal and ethical. Depending on the results, more permissive legislation may be passed to permit the use of such drugs in controlled environments or through limited dosages.
• The blurring of the line between using recreational drugs for entertainment and for medicine, which may cause some overlaps and overdoses.

Questions to comment on

• How else will the psychedelic drug industry benefit from the optimized drug market?
• If you have tried psychedelic drug-based treatments, how effective were they?