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Why Not Psilocybin? In recent years, psilocybin — the psychedelic molecule derived from magic mushrooms — has been shaping up to be the star compound in the psychedelic revolution of psychiatric treatment.
Psilocybin research is paving the way to psychedelic treatment in general and the development of psychedelics as an industry, Rahn said.
Yet he’s placing his trust in the possibilities offered by 18-MC as a non-hallucinogenic psychedelic taken in microdoses.
Linton also commented on psilocybin’s commercial value.
The path to commercialization for the compound is financially unclear and difficult, he said. In Linton's view, commercial success relies on the possibility of modifying the original compounds.
"It's a very difficult molecule to alter. But there are a variety of other psychedelics that can be amended structurally to reduce their hallucinogenic effect, or they can actually have dose metering technologies that allow for well-structured delivery," he said.
"That to me gets to be very interesting commercially."
Microdosing: Non-Hallucinogenic Psychedelics? The definition of microdosing has yet to be standardized.
One approach would be to consider a "micro" dose of psychedelics to be one that's so low a hallucinogenic effect cannot be perceived, yet a therapuetic effect is achieved.
Yet as multiple scholars stated in a review paper on the subject, "there is no agreed scientific consensus on what microdosing is."
Linton is well aware of this fact.
"What’s micro?" he asks rhetorically. "How are you actually managing the dose? What's the frequency on micro? What are the primary indications that you're using it against? And what's the baseline of efficacy compared to other medicines? All that work is undone."
For Linton, the lack of knowledge on the subject is more of an opportunity than a drawback.
"That means this is a bad idea currently because we have to do the work to show that’s a great idea. If it was already a great idea, that means everybody did all the work. I’m a big fan of investing in bad ideas."
Potential Microdosing Health Issues Microdosing psychedelics offers vast potential not only in substance addiction, but also in the treatment of anxiety and adult ADHD.
The theory that this type of treatment can be dangerous to the heart — especially using substances like LSD and 18-MC — is unproven, Rahn told Benzinga.
"One of the things that we’ll be doing is rigorous science and a Phase 2 clinical trial to demonstrate if there are issues relating to the heart or not. Because there are theories that it might — but there's been very little rigorous science on the microdosing subject."
See Also: Bruce Linton On His Next Steps, Says 'I'm Cheering For Entrepreneurs'
The Future Of The Psychedelics Industry The pharmaceutical industry will be especially interested in psychedelics, Linton said.
Pharmaceutical companies need a pipeline of drugs that address mental health conditions and addiction, he said.
Rahn said there's a lack of investment in addiction medicine.
"On the opioid market, there’s Suboxone. There are studies that demonstrate that it has a 90% failure rate. That's not good. We're not going to solve the opioid crisis that way."
For Linton, the debate around whether psychedelics have an effective impact on humans is no longer relevant.
"Humans have been using [psychedelics] for 3,000 or 4,000 years. Listen, if you don't think it does have an effect, then please go have an acid trip and tell me how it didn't affect you,” he said. “What I want to know is what amount, in what way, to get what outcome?"
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