(MENAFN- Baystreet.ca) Psychedelic drugs have been largely misunderstood for years. However, it appears that's quickly changing thanks to new evidence from the medical community, especially with regards to psilocybin mushrooms.
For example, a 2017 study featured in the journal, Nature -- Psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression: fMRI-measured brain mechanisms - showed that 47% of treatment-resistant patients with depression showed positive responses five weeks after psilocybin treatments. Another study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology found that a single mushroom-based treatment can help improve the lives of cancer patients' quality of life for nearly five years.
Such news is creating sizable opportunity for companies such as Mota Ventures Corp. (CSE:MOTA) (OTC:PEMTF), Mind Medicine Inc. (OTC:MMEDF), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Revive Therapeutics Ltd. (CSE:RVV)(OTC:RVVTF), and Champignon Brands Inc. (OTC:SHRMF)(CSE:SHRM).
Mota Ventures Corp. (CSE:MOTA)(OTC:PEMTF) BREAKING NEWS: Mota Ventures Corp. announced that it has entered into a letter of intent, dated May 11, 2020, with Verrian Ontario Ltd., pursuant to which the parties intend to evaluate a potential transaction involving the acquisition of all of the outstanding share capital of Verrian. Verrian is an arms'-length privately-held company that is focused on delivering and developing products related to addiction reduction, with a focus on alcohol and opiates.
ESTABLISHED EUROPEAN PSYCHEDELIC MEDICINE COMPANY -- Verrian owns and operates an EU-GMP, ISO 14001 compliant 110,000 sq. ft. pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Radebuel, Germany. Verrian purchased the facility from a major global pharmaceutical manufacturer in 2019. Both the facility and equipment are independently appraised at $CAD 10,600,000, including an analytical laboratory, and full pharmaceutical manufacturing suite. Operations within this full suite pharmaceutical manufacturing site include analytical laboratory and finished dose manufacturing, which exceed all international quality standards.
Verrian is composed of three distinct business segments: Pharmaceutical Manufacturing - A portfolio of medical & wellness products; Phyto API - API creation from medical plants; Analytical Testing - European Medicine Agency Standards.
PRODUCTS FOCUSED ON OPIATE ADDICTION REDUCTION -- Verrian's singular focus is rewiring the mind to overcome addiction through natural medicine. Specifically, the micro dosing of psilocybin demonstrates potential to remove the dopamine reward of addictive substances, potentially diminishing the desire for addictive substances, thereby reducing or eliminating the need for the addictive substance. To date Verrian has developed: PSI GEN and PSI GEN+.
These Psilocybin products are focused on opiate addiction reduction. As Natural Psilocybin extracts, from organically cultivated mushrooms, combined with metabolism enhancing natural herbs, they are ideal for individuals commencing micro-dosing and capable of being combined with additional anti-addiction therapies. All of Verrian's compounds are derived from organic, glyphosate free naturally occurring plants, grown specifically for its own purposes.
GOALS AND VISION -- In addition to facility & equipment investments outlined above, the company has invested $CAD 2,400,000 worth of clinical trial design development and proprietary formulations into its psilocybin trademarked PSI-GEN formulations, and cannabis products, including trademarked CBDaily and CBNight. Verrian's world renowned addiction medicine experts are moving ahead to develop new potential treatments for therapy, with rigorous clinical research. Once EU GMP & narcotics handling recertification are secured, capabilities will extend to Specialty Pharma - Custom formulations; Psilocybin Refinement & Production - For micro dosing.
"I am extremely excited at the opportunity to acquire an established Psychedelic medicine company in Europe. As an innovative company, Mota always seeks to be a leader in the natural health space and we see the psychedelic medicine market becoming a major part of the industry. This acquisition allows us to have first mover advantage in the Psychedelic market, and Mota's existing distribution network will be ready to capitalize on the opportunity once regulation has been put in place." Stated Ryan Hoggan, CEO of the Company.
The Letter of Intent contemplates that the Company would acquire all of the outstanding share capital of Verrian in consideration for Cdn$21,100,000, of which Cdn$20,000,000 will be satisfied through the issuance of common shares to the existing shareholders of Verrian, and the balance will be payable in cash to retire certain outstanding shareholder loans due and owing by Verrian. The Consideration Shares will be subject to the terms of a thirty-six month time release pooling arrangement, during which time they may not be transferred, assigned, pledged or otherwise traded.
Readers are cautioned that the Letter of Intent entered into with Verrian does not set forth the final terms of the Proposed Transaction, nor have such terms been finalized. Any consideration offered to acquire Verrian remains subject to the results of ongoing due diligence. Completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including, not limited to, completion of due diligence, negotiation of definitive documentation, and the receipt of any required regulatory approvals. The Proposed Transaction cannot be completed until these conditions are satisfied and there can be no assurance that the Proposed Transaction will be completed at all.
The Proposed Transaction is not expected to constitute a fundamental change for the Company, nor is it expected to result in a change of control of the Company, within the meaning of applicable securities laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange. The Company will provide further information regarding its review of Verrian, and the Proposed Transaction, as that information becomes available.
Other related developments from around the markets include:
Mind Medicine Inc. (OTC:MMEDF) announce that, on May 8, 2020, it has entered into a clinical trial agreement with Maastricht University to undertake a Phase 2a clinical trial for lysergic acid diethylamide in adult patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. MindMed previously established a microdosing division to develop a portfolio of clinical trials studying the use of sub-perceptual amounts of psychedelic substances for medical purposes. As part of the agreement, Maastricht University will provide facilities and personnel for the Phase 2a Proof of Concept Clinical Trial for MindMed's multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of low dose LSD as treatment for ADHD in adults. Dr. Kim Kuypers, associate professor, Department of Neuropsychology & Psychopharmacology at Maastricht University will serve as a Principal Investigator for the Phase 2a Clinical Trial. Dr. Kuypers is a leading clinical investigator in the field of psychedelics and has previously evaluated the concept of microdosing in other research. Her main goal as a clinical researcher is to understand the neurobiology underlying flexible cognition, empathy, and well-being.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced that Biosense Webster, Inc.'s THERMOCOOL SMARTTOUCH SF Ablation Catheter , evaluated in the PRECEPT study for the treatment of persistent atrial fibrillation (AF), resulted in freedom from any documented, symptomatic atrial arrhythmias at 15 months post-procedure for eight out of ten study participants (80.4 percent).1 Use of the THERMOCOOL SMARTTOUCH SF CATHETER for persistent atrial fibrillation is investigational only. This PRECEPT study data support a Premarket Approval supplement application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In lieu of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) 2020 Heart Rhythm Scientific Sessions, these late-breaking data were presented and recorded by Dr. Moussa Mansour, Associate Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Cardiac Electrophysiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and study investigator, and are now available on Heart Rhythm 365 as part of the HRS 2020 Late-Breaking Clinical Trials. Data from the PRECEPT study was also recently published in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology.
Revive Therapeutics Ltd. (CSE:RVV)(OTC:RVVTF) will investigate novel oral dosage forms of psilocybin , such as oral dissolvable thin films or tablets, based on the Company's wholly-owned patent-pending psilocybin formulations and its exclusive licensed drug delivery technology from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. "We are expanding our psilocybin-based pharmaceutical portfolio with unique oral dosage and drug delivery forms that will target and have the potential to treat diseases and disorders currently not investigated with psychedelic compounds," said Michael Frank, Revive's Chief Executive Officer. "We are combining our robust intellectual property portfolio in both psychedelic formulations and our drug delivery technology which is unique within the industry, and leveraging our research partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to establish a specialty portfolio of psilocybin-based pharmaceuticals that we can advance to clinical trials and partnerships with other life sciences companies." Through initial evaluations with the Company's research team, it has been found there are several unique parallels between the Company's intellectual property portfolio of psilocybin-based formulations and delivery mechanism and the drug delivery technology, which is comprised of tannin-chitosan composites that have been studied with cannabidiol in the past. Revive intends to research both delivery mechanisms in parallel as each provides its own unique qualities such as the potential of rapid onset of action and time-release compositions. The future of psilocybin as a medication will come in many forms. The Company believes that the most optimal delivery method to pursue and unlock the potential of psilocybin to treat a broad spectrum of diseases and disorders will be in the form of both an oral dissolvable tablet and an oral thin film strip, commonly recognized as a ‘Breath Strip'. The Company is preparing its formulation development plans intending to pursue clinical studies for indications currently not being evaluated with psilocybin. We believe the combination of psilocybin and our tannin-chitosan delivery platform gives us a unique advantage.
Champignon Brands Inc. (OTC:SHRMF)(CSE:SHRM) announced that it has executed a term sheet with California, U.S. based Wellness Clinic of Orange County Inc. further advancing the Company's North American clinical expansion. The Wellness Clinic owns and operates a state-of-the-art ketamine infusion treatment center located within the Mission Hospital's Laguna Beach campus. This cutting-edge clinic is an authority in ketamine infusion therapy and is actively involved in research and complementary treatment protocols. Supported by a breadth of peer reviewed studies, as well as clinical trials, intravenous ketamine has emerged as a promising treatment option for many chronic diseases, such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, fibromyalgia, and certain other pain disorders. "We are thrilled to begin executing on our North American expansion strategy by acquiring our first U.S. based, revenue generating ketamine centre- Wellness Clinic of Orange County," said Dr. Roger McIntyre, Chief Executive Officer, Champignon. "This acquisition represents a major milestone as we begin to accelerate our vision of establishing significant scale and a sizable footprint of integrated ketamine centric clinics committed to providing innovative care and therapeutic options to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from chronic disease states that have failed conventional treatments."
Legal Disclaimer / Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Winning Media is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Mota Ventures Corp. has paid three thousand five hundred dollars for advertising and marketing services to be distributed by Winning Media. Winning Media is only compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation. Winning Media owns ZERO shares of Mota Ventures Corp. Please click here for full disclaimer.
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