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Pharma Tech Outlook | Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Transaction speeds up Reset Pharmaceuticals lead psilocybin program, targeting severe demoralization, as well as anxiety, and depression, in cancer patients
FREMONT, CA: Reset Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Reset Pharma), a privately held biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of psilocybin and novel psychedelic therapies for severe demoralization in patients with life-threatening cancer, acquires an exclusive license from NYU Langone Health for intellectual property (IP) relating to the use of psilocybin and related psilocybin derivatives.
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This agreement is built on the seminal work of Stephen Ross, M.D., a world leader in the advancement of psychedelic medicine research and a prominent addiction psychiatrist. Dr. Ross is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Director of NYU Langone's newly designated Center for Psychedelic Medicine. Dr. Ross's research primarily focuses on using psilocybin and related psychedelics to treat mood disorders in cancer patients. Psilocybin administration in conjunction with well-defined psychotherapy resulted in rapid, clinically meaningful, and long-lasting improvements in cancer-related demoralization, anxiety, and depression.
NYU Langone receives milestone and royalty payments from Reset Pharma for developing and commercializing the intellectual property. The parties will continue to investigate the role of psychedelics in treating mental illness and other life-threatening disorders, in addition to cancer, as part of the collaboration.
“This licensing agreement should accelerate the development of psilocybin for cancer-related severe demoralization, which is particularly urgent as these patients have a significantly increased risk of suicidal ideation. Millions of patients currently have limited - and largely ineffective - treatments, such as traditional anti-depressants, which are often no more effective than placebo,” comments Jan-Anders Karlsson, Ph.D., Reset Pharma’s Co-Founder and CEO. “Importantly, we believe that psilocybin is a promising treatment for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer, increasing therapeutic opportunities. We are very pleased to enter this long-term collaboration with Dr. Ross and NYU Langone Health to bring important new medicines to patients with mental illnesses that today have few, if any, effective treatment options.”
“I regularly meet patients who become demoralized from learning that they have a life-threatening cancer. These patients need immediate help, especially when considering that they are at an elevated risk for suicide. However, there are few, if any, effective therapies for them,” adds Dr. Ross. “I look forward to working with the Reset Pharma team to further support their development of these compounds that showed such promising therapeutic effects in cancer patients.”
A mood disorder may be diagnosed in up to 40% of all cancer patients in the United States or nearly seven million cancer patients. Around 20% of patients with terminal cancer experience clinically significant demoralization, which frequently occurs in the absence of other mood disorders. These patients appear to experience more substantial anxiety, pain, fatigue, and function impairment than other cancer patients. Additionally, they are more likely to share suicidal thoughts, have difficulty adhering to cancer therapy, and lack effective treatment options.
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