The effort to develop psychedelic therapies took a hit earlier this month when the FDA rejected Lykos Therapeutics’ MDMA-assisted therapy, a blow that was quickly followed by the retraction of three Lykos research papers and the slashing of 75% of the biotech’s workforce.
But research into psychedelics continues, with clinical MDMA manufacturer PharmAla Biotech launching an online tool to help scientists easily obtain data on their products.
“One of the unlooked-for effects of the FDA’s decision on the Lykos new drug application for MDMA has been a dramatic increase in clinical researchers looking for information about our products,” PharmAla CEO Nicholas Kadysh said in an Aug. 22 release. “Clearly, MDMA is still of significant interest to the global research community.”
The new tool provides qualified researchers with information about drug product quality, according to the release. This includes chemistry, manufacturing and control data, which researchers need in order to conduct human trials. The company hopes its new tool will help researchers apply for clinical trials using MDMA more easily.
In the same release, PharmAla announced that it was hiring William Avery as chief financial officer, effective Oct. 1. Avery has been serving as a financial advisor for the MDMA-maker for more than a month.