02/22/2020
Microdosed LSD: Finally A Breakthrough For Alzheimer’s Disease?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/abbierosner/2020/02/21/microdosed-lsd-may-finally-be-the-breakthrough-for-alzheimers-disease/
http://archive.is/lZKpl
…
According to Shlomi Raz, CEO and founder of biomedical startup, Eleusis, the problem with conventional, single-target approaches to Alzheimer’s is that they don’t take into account the multiple dysregulated processes in the disease’s complex pathobiology.
And Raz’s company’s approach to the disease is anything but conventional.
Eleusis is investigating the anti-inflammatory potential of psychedelics as medicines, specifically the application of sub-perceptual doses of LSD in halting the progression of Alzheimer’s disease at its earliest detectable stage.
…
Also, being an outsider to pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, I didn't realize that serotonin 2A receptors were an anti-target for purposes of development - because no sane drug developer would think to target a receptor that could give rise to profound psychoactive effects.
But I read the work of Professor Charles Nichols at Louisiana State University, who found that some psychedelics potently reduced inflammation at levels that would be predicted not to be psychoactive or even perceptible, via activation of the serotonin 2A receptor, which besides being expressed in the brain, is also highly expressed throughout the body. And this got me very excited.
I continued to dig into the literature, and found that the same receptor that mediates the psychoactivity of psychedelics is also implicated in the effects these compounds have in terms of providing protection against oxidative stress, enhancing neuroplasticity, and alleviating depression and anxiety. And because these compounds are anti-inflammatory, they address a constellation of dysregulated functions in aging.
Digging further, I found research indicating that this receptor, if it was engaged by a psychedelic drug, would also reduce the amount of toxic amyloid that was produced in an organism. And I thought that was interesting, because at the time, and certainly for the prior decade, amyloid was the primary target for Alzheimer's disease.
…
AR: In the meantime, it seems like we are starting to see a shift in the public perception of psychedelic drugs and a growing recognition of their therapeutic potential. So maybe your timing is also serendipitous.
SR: I certainly hope so, for the sake of the patients and their families. There is such an incredible unmet need. I have family who suffered through dementia, and I think almost everyone has.
Conventional drug development will continue down a path of single target therapeutics. But if we’re right, and you need a multi-target therapeutic to beat Alzheimer’s, LSD may be the best one we've got.