Magdalena Biosciences announces results from preclinical study in mice in Brazil

Jaguar Health (JAGX) announced that a preclinical study in mice initiated in Brazil by Magdalena Biosciences, the joint venture recently formed by Jaguar and Filament Health Corp. (FLHLF) to develop novel, natural prescription medicines derived from plants for mental health indications, indicates psychoactive activity in a plant extract in a lead Magdalena botanical drug candidate. The botanical drug candidate is being evaluated for its potential use as a next-generation psychoactive prescription drug for treatment of mental health conditions such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, anxiety, and other possible neuropsychiatric conditions. The evaluation process for plants that have a history of traditional use by humans involves expanding traditional uses with exploratory studies in animals prior to initiating clinical trials in people. To this end, mice experiments with this extract of the Magdalena lead botanical drug candidate have shown increased brain metabolism that indicate its potential beneficial effect for several conditions where such areas show hypofunction, including ADHD, depression, and anxiety. Moreover, the connectivity analysis demonstrated that this plant extract appears to beautifully reshape the neuronal network. The Magdalena preclinical study consisted of radioactive fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography scans performed by Dr. Daniella Faria, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Sao Paulo, with the analysis done by Dr. Eduardo A. Zimmer through his consultancy.