Magdalena Biosciences initiates preclinical study to evaluate plant extracts

Jaguar Health announced that Magdalena Biosciences, Inc., the joint venture recently formed by Jaguar and Filament Health, to develop novel, natural prescription medicines derived from plants for mental health indications, has initiated a preclinical study in Brazil to evaluate two plant extracts for their potential to treat depression, anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and other possible neuropsychiatric conditions initially in adults. Analysis of the FDG PET scans will be done by Dr. Eduardo A. Zimmer of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The Zimmer Lab is comprised of a multidisciplinary team with expertise in conducting refined non-invasive imaging studies in small animals and humans. Dr. Elaine Elisabetsky, who has general responsibility for coordinating resources and principal investigators for this project in Brazil, is one of the world’s leading ethnopharmacologists. She is a consultant to both Magdalena Biosciences and Jaguar and is a member of the scientific strategy team for Jaguar’s Entheogen Therapeutics Initiative. Identification of plants best suited for these studies were done as part of the ETI, which aims to discover and develop groundbreaking, novel, natural medicines derived from psychoactive plants for treatment of mood disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, addiction, and other mental health disorders. The Magdalena Biosciences joint venture emerged from Jaguar’s ETI.