Yesterday, GreenStar Biosciences announced their signing of a letter of intent to acquire Eleusian Biosciences, a Toronto-based company focused on the development of medical devices and therapeutics.
Eleusian has filed two provisional patent applications, one for a nasal mist transducer medical device, and another for a combination therapy of psilocybin and N-Acetylcysteine in the treatment of mild traumatic brain injury and PTSD.
We spoke to Tom Baird, CEO of GreenStar Biosciences, and Jon Gilbert, Eleusian CEO, about the acquisition.
“Eleusian is a natural fit for GreenStar with a common focus on technology, IP and the development of novel therapeutics in the biosciences and transformational medicine markets,” said Tom Baird, CEO of GreenStar Biosciences.
To date, GreenStar has predominantly focused on cannabis businesses. Baird believes his Company’s experience in this sector puts them in a good position to enter the psychedelics space.
“There are a couple of key learnings. The psychedelic space is a fresh emerging new market similar to where cannabis was 10 years ago. I expect the regulatory hurdles and challenges to be very similar. As CBD and THC based therapeutic products are becoming mainstream, those distribution channels and supply chains will most likely directly support the psychedelic market as well. The experience gained dealing with the federal, state and local regulators will also pay dividends.”
This is similar to the sentiment of other Companies we have spoken to that have succeeded in supporting the supply chain and distribution activities of the cannabis industry, who are now seeking to apply their expertise to the nascent psychedelic sector.
Jon Gilbert, Eleusian’s CEO, told us about his short-term plans for the Company: “we plan to demonstrate efficacy of our psychedelic therapeutic (the combination of psilocybin and n-acetylcysteine) for the treatment of mTBI with PTSD or PTSD alone in pre-clinical rodent models.
In the mid-term, Gilbert said that Eleusian “will be carrying out pre-clinical studies and preparing an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for submission to the US FDA.” At the same time, the CEO explains that Eleusian “will be looking at other psychedelics for treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders.”
As aforementioned, Eleusian has filed two provisional patent applications in the United States. One of these is a nasal mist transducer. We asked Gilbert why this device is so relevant to the psychedelic medicine use case.
From FDA and DEA regulatory point of view, our nasal mist transducer (NMT) will be very important from accurate dosing and control of schedule I drug substance. For psychedelics to become mainstream therapeutics, similar to cannabis, we have to show effective dosing and control of these drug substances. For optimum efficacy with minimum dosing, we believe psychedelics should be delivered at the olfactory region of the nasal canal and our NMT will do this effectively.
Finally, we asked Gilbert to provide an update on their psilocybin and NAC study. The CEO explained: “we are carrying out pre-clinical studies to show efficacy in accepted animal models and will be preparing an IND for submission to US FDA to initiate phase 1 clinical trials. Our expectation is that we will initiate P1 human clinical trials in mid 2022.”