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Enveric Biosciences Announces Publication of a Paper Describing a Novel Bioproduction Platform for Psychedelic-Inspired Drug Discovery in the Journal of Biological Chemistry
Paper co-authored by Enveric researchers describes the discovery of a key cane toad enzyme and its application to the biosynthesis of novel
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[{"type":"text","content":"\nPaper co-authored by Enveric researchers describes the discovery of a key cane toad enzyme and its application to the biosynthesis of novel indolethylamine-type drug candidates with potential use in psychiatric medicine\n\n\n CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nEnveric Biosciences (NASDAQ: ENVB) (“Enveric” or the “Company”), a biotechnology company dedicated to the development of novel neuroplastogenic small-molecule therapeutics for the treatment of depression, anxiety, and addiction disorders, today announced publication of a paper in the peer-reviewed journal, Journal of Biological Chemistry, describing the discovery of a new enzyme from cane toad (Rhinella marina) and the successful development of a bioproduction platform for the isolation and pharmacological screening of novel indolethylamines with potential use in psychiatric medicine. Enveric researchers and a team from the University of Calgary co-authored the work, which was led by Peter Facchini, Ph.D., professor and Chief Innovation Officer at Enveric.\n\n\nIn the paper titled, “A cane toad (Rhinella marina) N-methyltransferase converts primary indolethylamines to tertiary psychedelic amines,” the authors describe the discovery and biotechnological deployment of a novel enzyme, Rhinella marina N-methyltransferase (RmNMT), isolated from the cane toad. The discovery is important as it represents the first alkaloid biosynthetic gene and cognate enzyme isolated from a psychedelic toad. In comparison to N-methyltransferases isolated from other organisms, RmNMT is an effective and promiscuous catalyst, which makes it uniquely suitable for the biosynthesis of novel psychedelic-inspired neuroplastogens. The research team demonstrated the utility of the enzyme as an important biocatalyst in psychedelic applications by purifying its reaction products and subjecting the compounds, which include novel DMT derivatives, to key receptor binding and metabolic stability assays.\n\n\n“This unique enzyme has proved itself a superior biocatalyst compared with similar enzymes and emerges as a key resource with applications in the synthesis and screening of psychedelic-inspired medicines,” said Dr. Facchini. “Our work demonstrates Enveric’s superior and proven capabilities in creating exciting New Chemical Entities (NCEs) inspired by the powerful ability of organisms found in nature to ...