VEGGF - Psygen Labs To Supply NeonMind With Psilocybin For Weight Loss Study
Better Plant Sciences Inc. (OTCQB: VEGGF) that its majority-owned subsidiary NeonMind Biosciences has entered into a definitive agreement with Psygen Labs Inc. for the supply of psilocybin for NeonMind’s planned preclinical, and clinical trials to study the use of a drug product including Psilocybin for the treatment of food cravings and anxiety. The agreement was signed on September 28th, 2020.
“Psilocybin is known to activate serotonin receptors,” says Dr. William Panenka, lead scientific advisor to NeonMind, “as a neurotransmitter, serotonin helps to relay messages from one area of the brain to another. Serotonin is responsible for some of the drivers which govern eating. We are very interested in furthering studies to test various dosing regimens for NeonMind to see the effects that psilocybin may have on the serotonin receptors that regulate food cravings.”
Psygen is a privately held company based in Calgary, Alberta that specializes in the synthetic manufacture of psychedelic drug substances and drug products. Psygen provides non-exclusive access to GMP compliant psychedelic drug substances and drug products for clinical trials, therapeutic applications and pre-clinical studies. Psygen has sponsored a Licensed Dealer who holds a license for the manufacture, sale, import, export, and analysis of LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, DMT, 2C-B, and mescaline. Psygen has applied to Health Canada for a Dealer’s License that will allow Psygen to manufacture, possess, sell, import, export, research, develop, and analyze psychedelic drug substances and drug products. Psygen is currently building out a 6,000 square foot lab capable of large-scale synthesis, formulation, and distribution of the above and additional psychedelics to a GMP standard.
In December 2019, NeonMind said it filed a U.S. provisional patent application in the United States for the invention relating to the therapeutic administration of psilocybin to provide weight loss benefits and potential treatment or regulation of diabetes, and regulation of blood glucose, and to reduce susceptibility to cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, multiple sclerosis, erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence, chronic renal failure, sleep apnea, asthma, and certain forms of cancer. In May 2020, NeonMind said it had completed the design of a preclinical trial to confirm that psilocybin is an effective treatment for weight loss and food cravings. In July 2020, the scientific investigator chosen to lead NeonMind’s preclinical trial submitted a Section 56 Exemption application to Health Canada for the use of psilocybin in the Trial.
“Psygen’s mission is to fill a supply gap for restricted drug substances and restricted drug products for use in clinical trials and in pre-clinical research,” says Danny Motyka, CEO of Psygen Labs Inc. “We have brokered supply of various restricted drugs for pre-clinical studies and clinical trials through our relationship with a Licensed Dealer. Psygen is currently building out a commercial manufacturing facility designed for high-volume output of psychedelic drug substances and drug products, filling a niche in the evolving psychedelic medicine ecosystem. Today these psychedelic drug substances are classified as restricted drugs, meaning no recognized medical use in Canada, and we are playing our part in moving those substances to the controlled drugs schedule of the Food and Drug Regulations or otherwise providing compliant access to psilocybin and other psychedelics.”
NeonMind is launching a line of coffees infused with health optimizing medicinal mushrooms including reishi, cordyceps, lion’s mane and turkey tail mushrooms. Better Plant Sciences owns approximately 69% of the issued and outstanding stock of NeonMind.