As part of the agreement, atai has acquired all granted and pending patents related to DMT and other psychedelics.
atai Life Sciences has acquired Psilera’s DMT-patent portfolio as part of a recently announced licensing agreement, the companies said.
The acquisition includes all granted and pending patents related to DMT and other psychedelics, according to the firms.
atai is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company “developing novel, evidence-based therapeutics to treat depression, anxiety and other mental-health disorders,” the firm explains on the atai website. The company’s pipeline includes DMT, R-MDMA, ibogaine, 5-MeO-DMT and “novel 5-HT2A receptor agonists.”
“This agreement strengthens our DMT-patent portfolio and enables us to further explore the therapeutic potential of DMT for a range of disorders,” said Dr. Srinivas Rao, co-founder and CEO of atai. “It also allows us to potentially expand into several other formulations.”
Since Psilera was founded in 2019, the biopharmaceutical firm has developed and patented several DMT-specific formulations “with optimized bioavailability for clinical and outpatient use across a broad range of neurological indications,” according to Psilera.
Psilera’s lead drug candidate, PSIL-006, is a non-hallucinogenic psilocybin derivative that’s being evaluated for treatment of frontotemporal dementia.
“We’re pleased to collaborate with atai on the DMT-patent portfolio given their leadership in psychedelic-drug development,” said Dr. Chris Witowski, co-founder and CEO of Psilera. “This outcome helps us to advance the clinical development of our lead asset PSIL-006 in frontotemporal dementia and our leading next-generation neuroplastogen pipeline.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Psilera will receive an upfront payment and will be eligible for payments related to future development milestones and royalties on commercial-product sales, “assuming certain conditions are met.”
In a news release, Psilera noted it will continue to expand its pipeline of novel neuroplastogens compounds while advancing PSIL-006 to the clinic for first-in-human trials expected in 2026.