Yale University To Study DMT For Depression

Canadian clinical stage drug development company, Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CSE: AGN) (OTCQB: AGNPF), has entered a clinical trial agreement with Yale University to study DMT for the treatment of depression.

Algernon will provide DMT for the study in return for intellectual property rights with Yale around the clinical use of the drug. The company will also have the option to negotiate licenses to both IP developed jointly and IP developed solely by Yale — subject to rights reserved by the US government in conjunction with publicly funded research.

“The study may enhance our current understanding of the dosing regimen in the subjective effects induced by DMT,” said Deepak D’souza, the trial’s principal investigator and professor of psychiatry and director of Schizophrenia Neuropharmacology Research Group at the Yale University School of Medicine.

D’Souza is an experienced researcher with DMT and other controlled substances.

Algernon will also receive data from the study that it could use for its DMT stroke research program.

“After careful consideration, we chose to support Dr. D’Souza’s clinical DMT study and work with Yale University,” said Christopher Moreau, CEO of Algernon Pharmaceuticals. “Although the treatment of psychiatric disorders with DMT is not the company’s current focus, we have patents pending on novel forms of DMT which could potentially be used across a broad range of diseases. In addition, we believe the data generated from this study may help inform Algernon’s stroke research program.”

“A rising tide lifts all boats, and we feel a corporate responsibility as well to improve global awareness and support psychedelic medicine research when possible. It is in that spirit that we also chose to become the lead sponsor of Wonderland, the world’s largest conference on psychedelic medicine to be held November 3-5 in Miami.”

N, N-Dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, is a hallucinogenic tryptamine drug producing effects similar to those of other psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin. DMT occurs naturally in many plant species and animals including humans and has been used in religious ceremonies as traditional spiritual medicine by indigenous people in the Amazon. DMT can also be synthesized in a laboratory.

The “double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover-controlled” study will compare different bolus and constant infusion dosing regimens of DMT in healthy control participants and individuals with depression.

Algernon has active research programs for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) with chronic cough, chronic kidney disease and a psychedelic program investigating a proprietary form of DMT for stroke.