The international biotechnology company Psyence Group has entered into a licensing agreement with Filament Heath Corp. to support development of palliative care drugs derived from natural psilocybin.

The agreement gives Psyence an exclusive license to use Filament’s botanical drug candidate PEX010 in clinical trials, initially in the United Kingdom. Both companies are publicly traded on international markets.

“The psychedelics industry is small, and the number of companies working with natural psychedelics is even smaller,” Anna Cordon, director of communications at Filament, told Hospice News. “Both Filament and Psyence are well-regarded in our respective areas of expertise, so we were familiar with each other’s work. When it became clear that there was an opportunity to partner, we were keen to come to an agreement.”

Psychedelic medicine has lived on the fringes of health care since the United States outlawed most of the associated substances in 1970. But a proliferation of research has driven renewed interest, with a heavy emphasis on mental health and end-of-life care.

Psychedelics show promise in reducing anxiety and depression among terminally ill patients and fostering greater acceptance of mortality, a 2019 literature review in the journal Current Oncology found.

These therapies have also become big business, thanks largely to outpourings of venture capital and private equity dollars. Clinical psychedelics may become a $6.85 billion industry by 2027, Forbes reported last July.

Under their agreement, Psyence will provide Filament with psilocybin mushrooms to process and manufacture PEX010 for use in clinical trials.

While the initial trials by Psyence will begin in the United Kingdom, they could eventually cross the Atlantic.

“Expansion to the United States is certainly possible,” said Cordon. “Filament is already engaged in a clinical trial in California, and as Psyence’s drug development strategy progresses, it will be necessary to plan for larger scale trials in other countries.”

Psyence is the latest in a string of licensing partners for Filament. Generally, these licensees are exploring the indications for psychedelics in opioid tapering, palliative care, and alcohol use disorder.

Some of these partners include U.S.-based organizations, such as Translational Psychedelic Research Program at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November 2021 cleared the way for UCSF to start human clinical trials for PEX010. Other trials will also soon be underway in Canada.  

The three divisions of Filament’s newest partner — Psyence Production, Psyence Therapeutics and Psyence Function — operate in Canada, the United Kingdom and southern Africa, with an additional presence in the United States and Australia.

“The partnership between Filament and Psyence was a natural fit as our expertise is complementary, and we have similar company missions — to expand access to natural psychedelics for those in need,” Cordon said. “This agreement leverages Psyence’s expertise in fungi cultivation and palliative care as well as Filament’s expertise in the manufacture of pharmaceutical grade drug candidates.”