Havn Life Partners with Research Firm to Analyze Psilocybin; Will Study Psilocybin and the Immune System
In Havn Life Sciences’ latest deal, the company has signed a contract with Complex Biotech Discovery Ventures (CBDV), a licensed cannabis research and development firm, in an effort to analyze psilocybin and study potential effects on the immune system.
The biotech company and its new partner will analyze psilocybin under Havn Life’s section 56 exemption, which allows the company to possess psilocybin for research purposes. It’s the second research announcement from Havn Life this week.
As part of the company’s plan to build a library of psilocybin compounds, it will conduct a study at CBDV’s lab in Vancouver at the University of British Columbia to test and compare the pros and cons of different methods of extraction. The partnering firm focuses on cannabis extraction, optimization, analytical testing and chemical process development, and was founded by Dr. Markus Roggen and UBC professor Glenn Sammis.
Alexzander Samuelsson, Havn Life’s chief research officer, said in a press release that the comparative study will enable the company to “leverage known research to develop an optimal process for the standardization of psilocybin extraction.”
“This ultimately allows Havn to supply academic researchers with high-quality, standardized compounds. It will also mean that Havn Life can rapidly develop our proprietary extraction methods in-house more quickly by eliminating the need to send compounds to third-party labs,” he added.
Havn announced on Monday it will also be undertaking a preclinical study on the effects of psilocybin on the immune system.
Led by principal researchers Dr. Geoffrey Bove, Dr. David Mokler, and Susan Chapelle, Havn Life’s executive vice president of research and development, the study will seek to determine what effect psilocybin has on the body’s inflammatory response, and whether or not it can regulate the immune system.
The preclinical investigation will be one of the first to quantify the effects of psilocybin on the immune system, and will be undertaken at Dr. Bove’s medical centre in Maine.
“This is an exciting new application for psilocybin that has not yet been researched. The work is essential to understanding the safety profile of psilocybin and developing medicines to help support human health,” says Chapelle, who has extensive clinical experience in pharmacology research and has co-authored several peer-reviewed publications. “The findings could lead to significant discoveries in the treatments of inflammatory diseases that have a profound negative effect on so many, such as pain, neuropathy and arthritis.”
Related: Havn Life Sciences CEO on Decriminalization of Psychedelics in Oregon and Washington D.C.
