PurMinds: 'A Neuroscience Biopharma Company With A Robust Psychedelic Strategy'

This article was originally published on Microdose and appears here with permission.

Continuing our series of CEO interviews and company profiles, we sat down with Janet Qi, Founder and CEO of PurMinds Biopharma.

Since PurMinds may be new to many investors, why don’t we start with a brief introduction to the company?

“Sure, my pleasure. PurMinds is a biopharma company with a very robust psychedelic strategy. We have our own dealer’s license for controlled substances in Ontario, which is really the main real building block for us to start our two main channels.

One is the natural compound production facility. The other part of it is a neuroscience lab to focus on drug discovery and drug development. And our development focus is on neurological diseases, especially neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, ALS, vascular dementia, Parkinson’s, and other diseases.”

From your website, it says that PurMinds is “… a trailblazer, pursuing breakthrough solutions for devastating neurological diseases while setting the gold standards for research, development, and methodology”. So your company is primarily focused on neurodegenerative disease?

“Yes, we believe that for the next 50 years neurodegenerative diseases will be an increasingly serious issue and it has to be tackled. We are here to help and we want to make a difference.

We are using psychedelic non-psychedelic compounds, but I would say it’s psychedelics that are really shining a beacon of hope. There hasn’t been much advancement in these diseases in decades, and now because of all, we understand psychedelics and their special properties of improving neuroplasticity and inflammation. We believe that psychedelics can really help.”

I comment that a focus on neurodegeneration seems to be missing in the psychedelic space, as other conditions like anxiety and depression are really dominating and getting the most attention. Personally, I’ve witnessed what dementia can do to people, and there’s definitely a need for some help in this area.

“Yes, unfortunately, several of our team members have also seen first hand, including myself, as one of my best friends died of ALS. Anybody who has gone through that process of seeing how people can deteriorate from these diseases, it’s really devastating.

So in addition to psychedelic drug discovery, we’re also developing design technologies to make the research and screening processes faster. Current testing is very long, waiting for the disease to progress in order to see if there’s a change. So we’re developing cutting-edge technology and AI to make this process better and faster.”

We then move onto some company details. PurMinds is currently a private company, divided into 3 pillars or areas of focus.

Neuroscience and Drug Development: They are building a neuroscience lab, hiring chemists and neuroscientists, and focusing on screening projects and technologies. TO then use that platform to find drugs and screen for efficacies and then collect the preclinical data and get ready for phase one and phase two clinical trials.

Compound Supply and Standardization​: PurMinds is working to be an early compound supplier for clinical-grade, standardized, affordable psychedelic compounds and formulations (both natural and synthetic). To be conducted in PurMinds’ cGMP production facilities.

Analytical Chemistry and Data Science: PurMinds’ neuroscience, synthetic, and analytical chemistry laboratories will provide screening, analytical, and drug design services to our peers engaged in novel drug discovery through a Positive Partnership Program.

PurMinds has also made its first strategic investment, partnering with a top Israel psychedelic company, IMIO Life, the psychedelic subsidiary of Nextage Therapeutics TASE.

“This will give us direct access to their research and build a collaborative relationship. They have a 20,000 square foot lab and a schedule one drug licensed by the Minister of Health of Israel. They also have 15 years of experience in working with big pharma. They can produce natural compounds or synthesized compounds for us to research, as well as give us options for manufacturing and export across continents.”

Although definitely still in the early stages, PurMinds seems to be building a solid foundation in a segment of the industry that’s in need of strong clinical development.

Visit their website here and stay tuned to Microdose for more information on PurMinds and other new psychedelic firms.

Interested in neuro-generation from psychedelics? Check out New Yale Study Shows Psilocybin Spurs Growth of Neural Connections Lost in Depression.