Humans have been experimenting with psychedelics for pretty much forever. History is full of folks giving themselves visions or trying to find a higher level of consciousness. For many of these people, psychedelics seemed to have a healing effect. It’s taken science a while to catch up with the potential, but now the research is starting to appear, We may finally be able to take advantage of the possible medical benefits of psychedelics (https://longevity.technology/news/more-than-just-a-trip-the-longevity-potential-of-psychedelics/).
One company that is leading the way in psychedelic research and the development of related therapeutics is Terran Biosciences. Terran is already an innovator when it comes to the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. In 2023, it inked an exclusive deal with Pierre Fabre, a French pharmaceutical giant, for the development, human trials and commercialization of its Idazoxan, a novel drug that can target both schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s. There may even be something for Parkinson’s-related psychosis in the near future.
Sam Clark, founder and CEO of Terran, hopes that psychedelics may be able to mitigate the neurodegeneration often associated with aging. Estimates suggest that there’s a 5% decrease in brain size with every decade we pass after we hit 40, even without a condition like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. Reducing neurodegeneration might not directly increase your lifespan, but it will improve the experience of growing older.
The reason Terran is so interested in the longevity potential of psychedelics is that these particular compounds don’t just have antidepressant properties. They may also be neuroregenerative. In other words, they may be able to regrow the brain. Specifically, it could rebuild and recharge the neurons that crackle through the healthy brain but fade and die in the aging one. There’s also a suggestion that they might do something that we thought was impossible in adults: cause our synaptic plasticity to reawaken. This is the kind of flexibility and ability to learn that usually only occurs in infancy.
We’re not quite there yet. There’s still a need for more specific research on Alzheimer’s and psychedelics. What has been achieved so far is a serotonin 2A blocker that can be taken with the psychedelics for medical benefits without the trip, and a neuromelanin (a compound that builds up when dopamine breaks down) imaging system just approved by the FDA to assess brain health.
The prevention and treatment of neurodegeneration could both become easier thanks to Terran’s research.
