Biomind announces pending production, evaluation of transdermal drug delivery system

Biomind Labs Inc. announced it has received a Controlled Substances License and will begin an 8-month project to produce and evaluate novel hydrogel-forming microneedle arrays for transdermal delivery of therapeutic psychedelic compounds.

According to a company release, Biomind will enter into a partnership with Queen’s University of Belfast, which specializes in rapidly dissolving and sustained-release hydrogel-forming microneedles, to formulate a delivery system for N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), 5-methoxyN, N-dimethyltryptamine and mescaline.

“Our exclusive agreement with Queen’s University of Belfast can strengthen our intellectual property portfolio based on three of our key psychedelic compounds,” Biomind Labs CEO Alejandro Antalich said in the release. “We could potentially be talking about the next generation treatment for inflammation, pain and neurodegenerative disorders, by way of a comfortable drug delivery solution with a strong emphasis on improving therapeutic outcomes for patients.”

Per the release, polymeric microneedle array patches painlessly penetrate the outer layer of the skin, creating temporary microchannels in an effective barrier to diffusion, through which enhanced transdermal drug delivery can be achieved. Given the presence of a dense network of blood vessels in the deeper layers of the skin, drugs can be absorbed into the plasmatic circulation and distributed to the entire body, producing a systemic effect.

Additional advantages of this technology, according to Biomind, are avoidance of first-pass metabolism and drug delivery in a rate-controlled or long-acting manner, which can serve to reduce incidence of side-effects and dosing frequency, which in turn may lead to increased treatment adherence.