Emyria initiates pre-clinical studies for MDMA-inspired analogues

Emyria Ltd (ASX:EMD) has kicked off a series of human cell-line pre-clinical studies to advance its MDMA-inspired drug discovery partnership with the University of Western Australia (UWA).

The healthcare stock has engaged the Institute of Respiratory Health (IRH) to conduct the studies as Emyria and UWA continue expanding one of the world’s largest libraries of novel MDMA-inspired analogues.

Essentially, IRH’s pre-clinical program will evaluate a set of unique analogues suggested to have ‘anti-fibrosis’ effects but limited neuropsychiatric action, based on early screening results.

Emyria has also received the green light from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to transport five high-priority MDMA analogues to the US, paving the way for engagement with leading US-based research bodies and potential partners.

“Analogues may have potent antifibrotic activity”

Emyria managing director Dr Michael Winlo said: “We are delighted to commence this pre-clinical program with the IRH, a leading translational research group, to examine the anti-fibrosis potential of some of our unique MDMA analogues.

“Fibrotic diseases represent a major group of unmet medical needs and our early screening results indicate some analogues may have potent antifibrotic activity.

“Emyria’s new drug discovery program, inspired by MDMA, continues to grow via our partnership with the University of Western Australia.

“We now have three clear therapeutic focus areas — fibrotic diseases, next-generation MDMA for drug-assisted therapy and treatments for other neurological conditions — and I look forward to updating the market on each preclinical program as it advances.”

MDMA-inspired analogues

Emyria has created and screened more than 125 MDMA-inspired analogues, led by Professor Matt Piggott in partnership with the University of Western Australia.

Professor Piggott is an expert in medicinal chemistry and an international leader in modifying MDMA to create novel analogues with therapeutic potential.

Based on initial screening, Emyria has identified three potential therapeutic areas for its MDMA-inspired drug discovery program:

• Treatments for major mental health disorders where more potent and shorter-acting MDMA-like treatments, when given alongside psychological therapy, may offer advantages over standard MDMA in drug-assisted therapy.
• Treatments for neurological disorders where selective neurological receptor effects are desired.
• Treatments for nonneurological disorders where selective activity at peripheral (non-brain) targets are of interest.

Preclinical studies are now commencing for leading drug candidates in each therapeutic area and the first preclinical program will explore the antifibrotic potential of a priority set of novel MDMA analogues.

DEA approval

Emyria also received notice from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) that a set of five high-priority compounds can be imported into the US.

DEA approval is the first key step to initiating work with US-based research institutions and partners, which are exploring the use of psychedelic-assisted therapies as innovative medical treatments.

Subsequent to the DEA approval, the team at UWA have begun scaling up the synthesis of the five selected compounds to support further studies.