Enveric determines main drug candidate for mental health disorders

Biotech and bioscience company Enveric has been developing a series of treatments for mental health disorders and are now focusing on one lead candidate, EB-003, which they are hoping to move into clinical trials in the future. 

Enveric Biosciences is one of these biotechs, with a series of drug candidates for treating mental health disorders, the EVM301 series. From this series, the company has chosen EB-003 as its lead drug candidate for those difficult-to-treat mental health disorders.

The selection was made based on data collected that showed that the candidate has the best potential for a high standard of treatment for these disorders. The drug works to boost neuroplasticity, without causing side effects in the form of hallucinations. 

Development of the drug in preclinical stages is scheduled to begin at the start of the year, with hopes that the results will support an application for an investigational new drug for in human clinical trials later on, looking specifically at the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders. 

The drug candidate was developed using Eneric’s computational chemistry and AI drug-discovery platform (PsyAI). The platform screened 51 indolethylamine analogs and helped to identify molecules that interact with the 5-HT2A receptor. These interactions work to induce neuroplasticity. 

The 51 analogs screened were narrowed down to three, with EB-003 as the most prominent, with the most complete profile. The results of initial testing of a range of doses in mice showed a low head-twitch response, neuroplasticity responses equitable to that of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and partial agonism of the 5-HT2A receptor with a binding affinity in a range of known agonists. The mice treated with EB-003 also returned to pre-stressed state in models of anxiety of depression. 

Encouragingly, compared to that of other mental health disorder treatments DMT and psilocin, the toxicity profiles were equivalent or lower with EB-003. 

Joseph Tucker Director and CEO of Enveric stated: 

“Selection of EB-003 as the lead development candidate from our EVM301 Series is an important inflection point for Enveric and our mission to develop groundbreaking, psychedelic-inspired drug technologies that offer the potential to treat severe mental health disorders without the hallucinogenic effect typically associated with psychedelic-based molecules.

“Importantly, moving EB-003 into our development pipeline marks a transformative step for Enveric as we complete our period as a discovery phase company and fully transition to the next phase as a drug development company.

“With EB-003, we have identified a novel, neuroplastogenic molecule that exhibits several key properties that align with favourable tolerability and efficacy in relevant animal models.”

Source: 

Pharmaceutical Technology. Enveric’s EB-003 selected as lead candidate for mental health disorders. [Date accessed 04/01/2024].