Terran Biosciences, a biotech platform company dedicated to the development of transformational therapeutics for neurological and psychiatric diseases, has announced the publication of PCT patent applications covering novel prodrugs of DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, and MDMA.
These applications highlight new data from animal studies demonstrating that DMT and 5-MeO-DMT can be made orally active through Terran’s proprietary prodrug approach. These compounds are considered to be among the most medically important psychedelic therapeutics, but due to extensive first pass metabolism in the liver, they are not active in oral form. DMT has traditionally been taken in combination with a monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor to help reduce this metabolic breakdown, however, this approach is difficult to translate to widespread clinical use as it can be associated with side effects such as nausea, vomiting, and changes in blood pressure.
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Terran’s unique prodrugs are novel compounds that are designed to be given as a single oral dose, avoid first pass metabolism, and then breakdown in order to release high levels of the original active molecule in the brain. With this new data from animal models, Terran believes these prodrugs may represent the first known examples of orally active forms of DMT and 5-MeO-DMT. While there have been a number of other approaches to alternative forms of DMT and 5-MeO-DMT ranging from injectable, inhaled, buccal, and sublingual methods of administration, Terran believes oral medications would provide the best use profile for patients. The innovative chemistry and design of these compounds are detailed in the PCT application “N,N-Dimethyltryptamine and Related Psychedelics and Uses Thereof” (WO/2023/283364).
Terran’s medicinal chemistry and drug discovery platform has also produced breakthroughs in the MDMA space, and in January of this year Terran’s MDMA prodrug PCT patent application was published. Terran believes this may represent the world’s first long-acting form of MDMA. Due to the short-acting pharmacokinetics of MDMA, current clinical trials using MDMA often utilize a redosing strategy in which certain patients receive a booster dose of MDMA to increase the duration of effect. However, Terran has now created novel MDMA prodrugs that have been shown in animal models to have a significantly longer duration of action with a reliable pharmacokinetic profile.
SOURCE: PR Newswire