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Enveric Biosciences Announces Bioproduction Platform Using Novel Cane Toad Enzyme for Psychedelic-Inspired Drug Discovery
Research details the bioproduction of novel indolethylamine-type drug candidates with potential use in psychiatric medicine CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS
About this update from Enveric Biosciences, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nResearch details the bioproduction of novel indolethylamine-type drug candidates with potential use in psychiatric medicine\n\n CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nEnveric Biosciences (NASDAQ: ENVB) (“Enveric” or the “Company”), a biotechnology company dedicated to the development of novel small-molecule therapeutics for the treatment of anxiety, depression, and addiction disorders, announced today new research detailing the first-ever isolation of a novel indolethylamine N-methyltransferase from cane toad (Rhinella marina) and the successful development of a bioproduction platform for the isolation and pharmacological screening of novel indolethylamines. A manuscript detailing the research has been submitted for peer-reviewed publication and is currently accessible via the following open access platform https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-2667175/v1.\n\nAs described in the paper, titled, “Bioproduction platform using a novel cane toad (Rhinella marina) N-methyltransferase for psychedelic-inspired drug discovery,” researchers at the University of Calgary, led by Peter Facchini, Ph.D., professor and Chief Innovation Officer at Enveric, successfully isolated a novel indolethylamine N-methyltransferase – RmNMT – from cane toads, representing the first alkaloid biosynthetic gene and cognate enzyme isolated from toad. Unlike functionally similar mammalian and fungal enzymes, the researchers determined that the efficiency and promiscuity of RmNMT made it suitable for the bioproduction of new-to-nature indolethylamine derivatives. From this discovery, the researchers have established an innovative platform for the bio-based production, purification, and screening of novel indolethylamine-type drug candidates with potential use in psychiatric medicine. Subsequent purification and screening experiments involving RmNMT revealed important observations on candidate stability, receptor activity, and ability to induce hallucination in mice.\n\n“Developing psychedelic-inspired, novel drug compounds at scale requires bioproduction platforms as an alternative to traditional chemical synthesis. Unfortunately, most bioproduction platforms fail to achieve the throughput, scale and versatility of synthetic chemistry due, in great part, to a lack of efficient and promiscuous catalysts,” stated Dr. Facchini. “This manuscript describes not onl...