PharmAla’s Novel MDMA Mixture Awarded US Patent, Enabling IP Protection And Further Development
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted PharmAla Biotech Holdings (OTC:MDXXF) a national patent covering the composition of matter of its lead novel compound, ALA-002.
The Novel Chemical Entity (NCE) is among the group of MDXX-class molecules under development by the biotech. Specifically, ALA-002 is a novel mixture of MDMA enantiomers: 70-80% R-MDMA, and 20-30% S-MDMA.
“MDMA is relatively unique in that it has two enantiomers that are active, but are active in dramatically different ways,” explained the company’s Research VP Dr. Harpreet Kaur. “In the brain, these two variants of the molecule have a synergistic effect. In short, the sum of these parts is greater than the whole.”
As the effects of racemic MDMA should be viewed not as one active but as a combination effect, Dr. Kaur says this brings about optimization possibilities.
“With ALA-002, we believe we have done that difficult work, and have created an improved, novel, next-generation MDMA drug substance formulation,” he said.
Preclinical trials showed the molecule’s administration “significantly lowered” the incidence of hyperthermia (the major adverse event coming …