- Revive Therapeutics is set to purchase the rights to all of PharmaTher’s intellectual property related to psilocybin including key patents.
- This comes after the two companies announced in late 2020 they had entered into a research partnership to explore psilocybin’s potential to treat certain cancers.
- Following the sale, PharmaTher now plans to dedicate its resources to clinical trials involving the use of ketamine to treat neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.
Canadian life sciences company Revive Therapeutics has announced it has entered a non-binding letter of intent, dated December 20, 2020, to purchase the rights to PharmaTher’s psilocybin program. This comes after the two companies announced in November they had entered into a research partnership that sought to explore the development of psilocybin in the treatment of cancer and to discover novel uses of undisclosed psychedelic compounds.
Once the deal is finalized, Revive Therapeutics will acquire the rights to all of PharmaTher’s intellectual property pertaining to psilocybin. In a statement on December 21, Revive Therapeutics said this included:
- all intellectual and work property derived from PharmaTher’s pre-clinical research activities in traumatic brain injury and stroke, with the aim to obtain U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Orphan Drug Designation;
- all intellectual property portfolio covering neurological disorders, cancers and novel combinations of psilocybin and FDA approved drugs;
- all intellectual and work property derived from the study being currently undertaken by the National Health Research Institute in Taiwan; and,
- key provisional patent applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Key patents that would be purchased by Revive Therapeutics include:
- Psilocybin in the Treatment of Neurological Brain Injury – US Provisional Application Serial No. 63/011,493 which relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising psilocybin and their use for the treatment of neurological brain injuries and migraines;
- Use of Psilocybin in the Treatment of Cancer, US Provisional Application Serial No. 63/113,913 which relates to Psilocybin’s use of significant unmet medical needs for Liver Carcinoma, Melanoma, Breast Neoplasms, Kidney Neoplasms, and Acute Myeloid Leukemia; and,
- Psilocybin Pharmaceutical Combination Therapies, US Provisional Application Serial No. 63/125,106 which relates to novel combinations of certain FDA approved drugs with psilocybin as a potential therapeutic option to reduce the side effects and improve the effectiveness of psilocybin to treat neurological disorders.
Acquisition to Complement Revive Therapeutics’ Psilocybin Program
In the statement announcing the proposed deal, Revive Therapeutics CEO Michael Frank said: “our psychedelics pharmaceutical program has been predominantly focused on the development and evaluation of our novel orally dissolvable thin film strip for psilocybin, and with the acquisition of PharmaTher’s proprietary psilocybin platform it will complement our objectives in commercializing a unique prescription-based psilocybin product for neurological disorders and FDA orphan drug indications.”
The company said the final term of the acquisition will be agreed to by the parties after the completion of due diligence by Revive Therapeutics with the deal expected to be closed on or before January 31.
PharmaTher to Focus on Ketamine Research
In the December 21 statement, PharmaTher indicated it would be focusing its research on clinical studies with ketamine for US FDA approvals in treating Parkinson’s disease, depression, and pain.
PharmaTher CEO Fabio Chianelli said: “with the proposed sale of our psilocybin program we will be able to dedicate resources to our core clinical-stage product pipeline of FDA-approved ketamine to treat neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, depression, and pain towards FDA Phase 2 clinical trials.”
“We have built a diverse intellectual property portfolio of novel uses and FDA-approved drug combinations of psilocybin for neurological disorders for a strategic partner such as Revive, which has committed to developing novel psilocybin formulations, to unlock the value of the psilocybin program for the long-term,” Chianelli said.
If you enjoyed this article, check out Truffle Report‘s interview with Derrick Welsh of Revive Therapeutics here.
