Effective today—Bright Minds Biosciences shares will commence trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “DRUG.” Bright Minds is already listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE:DRUG) under the same symbol. Nasdaq Stock Market LLC approved the listing of the company’s common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market.

Bright Minds’ team of drug designers developed psychedelics to make them safer and accessible for a larger patient population, often people who are out of options when dealing with treatment-resistant conditions. The company has several patented drugs in its pipeline—primarily 5-HT2C and 5-HT2C+5HT2A agonists—that are currently at the late-preclinical stage.

The particularly intractable epileptic condition common in children, Dravet syndrome, is difficult to manage using conventional drugs. That’s why number of patients resort to using cannabis, itself a mild psychedelic, to fight it. Charlotte’s Web, for instance, shares the name of the late Charlotte Figi whom the strain was named after. Now, scientists are exploring psychedelics to battle the condition as well, which so far are demonstrating remarkable capabilities.

The company’s lead novel compound—BMB-101—showed efficacy in in-vitro and in-vivo preclinical studies for pediatric epilepsy and decreased seizure duration by 74 percent. The company has plans to progress into clinical trials with the compound early in 2022. 

Bright Mind Biosciences’ leadership is thrilled about the “psychedelic drug revolution” that’s re-inventing therapy as we know it. A renewed interest in medical benefits from drugs such as psilocybin, ketamine, MDMA and so forth is everywhere.

“We’re making the drugs [of] the ‘60s great again! And to be honest, even better than they were in those days thanks to modern day scientific knowledge and helping a lot of patients out on the way,” Bright Mind Biosciences CEO Ian McDonald told High Times.

Bright Minds has a portfolio of serotonin agonists designed to target “neurocircuit abnormalities” responsible for difficult-to-treat disorders such intractable epilepsy, treatment-resistant depression, PTSD and pain. The company creates compounds with a goal to minimize side effects of first-generation psychedelics such as psilocybin.

McDonald also acknowledged the dire situation people with Dravet syndrome face in a press release. “Our listing on Nasdaq marks an important corporate milestone for Bright Minds, as we continue to advance our innovative drug candidates in pursuit of an improved generation of targeted serotonin-based therapies,” stated McDonald. “With encouraging preclinical data across several indications, we are progressing toward first-in-human trials with our lead drug candidate, BMB-101, for the treatment of Dravet syndrome, a devastating congenital and genetic disease affecting the nervous system. We expect to commence the trials in the first half of 2022.”

Last August, the company announced that BMB-101 showed efficacy in rodent models of Dravet syndrome. Furthermore, the effect of BMB compounds was consistent and comparable to other pharmaceutical anti-epileptics such as fenfluramine. 

BMB-101 is a 5-HT2C selective and biased agonist, demonstrating compelling promise in medical treatments for Dravet syndrome and/or other illnesses.

BMB-101 works differently than cannabis, as THC, nor any other cannabinoids and terpenoids present in cannabis plant material have known direct effects on receptors associated with psychedelics in similar classes.

Listing on the Nasdaq puts Bright Minds in a much more competitive position in an already competitive psychedelic landscape.

“Bright Minds is also committed to delivering significant returns to our shareholders,” McDonald continued. “Trading on the world’s most liquid market in which all investors can participate helps us continue to actualize that objective. We look forward to continuing to work closely with all our key constituents—scientific, medical, and the capital markets—to bolster our excellent competitive positioning.”

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