By Eden
Israel startup PsyRx produces pharmaceutical-grade natural psychedelic extracts for a new generation of mental health therapies.
“The world urgently needs a new way to treat mental health problems, and at PsyRx we believe that psychedelics are a big part of the solution,” said Itay Hecht, CEO and co-founder of the company that develops components of such psychedelics. Pharmaceutical grade from natural sources.
Using an agromedical bioreactor created at the Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture, PsyRx produces psychedelic botanical extracts of psilocybin (sourced from “magic” mushrooms) and ibogaine (found in the root bark of the iboga bush).
Science has shown that psilocybin has positive effects in the treatment of depression, anxiety and addiction. In fact, this substance has been suggested as a potential treatment for obesity, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), headache attacks, and more.
For its part, ibogaine showed its success as a drug against addictions, among other indications.
In this sense, PsyRx focuses its work to improve current selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants.
“SSRIs have some very deleterious side effects on libido and appetite, and patients often stop using them. We believe that adding a microdose of ibogaine will counteract those effects and make the remedy better,” explained Hecht, who emphasized that microdoses of psychedelics do not cause hallucinations.
The executive stressed that the company will soon begin testing small animals to check the safety and efficacy of the development. “We hope to be able to start human trials within a year,” he told ISRAEL21c.
Global trend
Adding psychedelics to conventional medications may seem a little “out of the loop” but the reality is that it is something of a fad.
According to the CB Insights market intelligence report, funding for psychedelic drug companies is growing rapidly as pharmaceutical giants see declining returns on investment in drug research and development, and are keen to explore alternative products .
In turn, the interest of consumers in hallucinogenic drugs is also growing steadily.
By industry standards, synthetic versions of psychedelics are easier to manufacture but may not work as well as natural ones.
“We think there is a big difference between biological and synthetic molecules, especially in the way they interact with receptors in the brain. Synthetic psychedelics are not as successful but it is not always easy to work with biological molecules,” Hecht said.
This is where the bioreactor comes into play, as this innovative system is what could allow PsyRx to transform the growing market for psychedelics.
From cannabis to psilocybin
Hecht began his career 20 years ago in the Netherlands managing cannabis dispensaries and seed companies. In 2007 she returned to Israel to study soil and water engineering to better understand the world of botany.
About five years ago – taking advantage of new local regulations – she founded Hi Pharma, the first cannabis cultivation company to be listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. He later went on to work at Stickit Labs, another cannabis company.
For his part, Dr. Asher Holzer, co-founder and current president of PsyRx, is a serial biotech entrepreneur and his successful financial interventions include InspireMD, TheraCoat and UroGen. Holzer was also part of the management team at Biosense, an Israeli company acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 1997.
“Two and a half years ago we saw an opportunity in the psychedelic sector but there were no licensed companies in Israel,” Hecht said. This is how PsyRx became the first of all. In turn, Dr. Kobi Buxdorf, co-founder and CTO of PsyRx, is a microbiologist with a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University.
Buxdorf developed tissue culture bioreactors to produce cannabis to a pharmaceutical standard and founded Cannadorf to commercialize the technique. “Then he developed a bioreactor for psilocybin and took it to a commercial stage. There are no standards yet for the regulation of psilocybin, so we expect this to take a few months to receive Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) designation for the pharmaceutical industry,” Hecht said.
Hecht also said that the Hebrew University is conducting additional research on psilocybin, sparking new ideas about how microdosing this powerful substance could improve pharmaceuticals.
“We hope that by the end of next year we will have the ability to sell our psilocybin worldwide for clinical research and drug development,” Hecht said.
Source: Israel21c