Debra Borchardt
Synthetic psychedelic medicine company Clearmind Medicine Inc. (Nasdaq: CMND) (CSE: CMND) closed on a public offering on April 6 to raise $3.5 million.
Clearmind said it expects to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include operating expenses, working capital, future acquisitions, research and development, including clinical and pre-clinical testing of its product candidates. The company also advised funds may be used for general capital expenditures.
According to the company’s prospectus, Clearmind plans to focus on psychedelic treatments for mental health disorders, including alcohol use disorders, binge drinking, and eating disorders. It’s specific focus at this time is on AUD.
The company also wrote in its offering prospectus, “We have completed a series of pre-clinical, investigational new drug, or IND, enabling studies in the United States and China that are required before we can study our compound for the first time in humans. These studies include pharmacokinetic and toxicological studies in rats and dogs in order to assess the safety profile of our compound and characterization of the drug metabolism.”
The company has conducted several metabolism studies on its 5-Methoxy-2-aminoindane, or MEAI, molecule to determine how it is digested in several species, as well as pre-clinical modeling to “characterize the effect of MEAI on alcohol consumption.”
What is MEAI?
MEAI is a synthetic molecule that has been studied and published in previous scientific papers. It belongs to the indane family of molecules which are closely related to MDMA.
The first appearance of MEAI was in a patent in 1998. It was seen as an alcohol replacement and used in a beverage called Pace. However, Health Canada deemed Pace an unauthorized and illegal product.
The scientist behind the Pace drink is Ezekiel Golan, and while the offering doesn’t mention him, the company website does post studies by Golan. Wikipedia states that Clearmind has wide intellectual property holdings to Golan’s patents.
The company also noted that it has submitted an IND request and intends to initiate the Phase I/IIa clinical study in the second quarter of 2023. The company also plans to submit applications to conduct the Phase I/IIa study in Europe and Israel.
