How Combat Sports Are Researching Micro-Dosing Psychedelics To Treat Brain Injuries

When it comes to combat sports, one thing is certain. Fighters are taking a risk every time they compete. Whether it’s a boxing ring or the UFC Octagon, fighters know they’re going to get hit in the head. Whether it’s a punch, a kick, a knee, or elbow, the brain is going to suffer trauma. It’s inescapable. While research has made strides over time in helping understand how and why trauma is caused and the long term effects of this trauma, new research is being done as to how to potentially treat these injuries in combat sports competitors.

There have been recent reports regarding the UFC looking into research surrounding micro-dosing psychedelics. The UFC has had a dialogue with Johns Hopkins University about its psychedelics research to see if the drugs can be an asset for fighters that are combating brain issues. The UFC has been a prominent financial supporter of a professional athlete brain study being conducted at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, contributing another $1 million recently.

UFC president Dana White recently told Yahoo Sports,“They’re micro-dosing psychedelics and they’re saying that it’s helping some of these guys with brain injuries,” White said. “We’ve talked to Johns Hopkins and we’re working on getting us involved with that too. ... The list goes on and on of all the things that we’ve done to try to improve the sport.”

Another company that has taken a strong interest in this category is Revive Therapeutics. The Toronto based company is a life sciences company focused on the research and development of therapeutics for infectious diseases and rare disorders, and it is prioritizing drug development efforts to take advantage of several regulatory incentives awarded by the FDA such as Orphan Drug, Fast Track, Breakthrough Therapy and Rare Pediatric Disease designations. Currently, the Company is exploring the use of Bucillamine for the potential treatment of infectious diseases, with an initial focus on severe influenza and COVID-19. With its recent acquisition of Psilocin Pharma Corp., Revive is advancing the development of Psilocybin-based therapeutics in various diseases and disorders. Revive’s cannabinoid pharmaceutical portfolio focuses on rare inflammatory diseases and the company was granted FDA orphan drug status designation for the use of Cannabidiol to treat auto immune hepatitis and reperfusion injury from organ transplantation.

What does all of this mean? It means more and more companies like Revive are understanding there’s a need to help these fighters that are dealing with brain issues long after they’re done fighting.

“We are excited the UFC is showing interest in Psilocybin for the treatment of brain injury. Our recently signed letter of intent with PharmaTher to acquire their psilocybin program which includes significant research in neurological brain injury will be addressing these key disorders. In the future psychedelics will play a significant role to treat a number of conditions and Revive’s tannin chitosan composite psylocibin formulations will continue down this clinical path in supporting these initiatives”, said Michael Frank, CEO of Revive.

Revive will also be working on a biosynthetic version of psilocybin to be based on a natural biosynthetic enzymatic platform, which was developed by Dr Gavin Williams, a professor at researcher at North Carolina State University. The platform is said to have the potential of providing a simple and efficient method for rapidly producing natural products, such as psilocybin.

The tech reportedly works via the use of an engineered enzyme pathway in E. coli. The science is based on the development of an artificial enzymatic platform that has been named the “Alcohol Dependent Hemiterpene,” with the pathway reportedly used as a key building block for psilocybin and its derivatives.

Revive has identified that it intends to develop and commercialize its own pharma-grade psilocybin with this biosynthesis technology in the future, which will be used to support its current psilocybin-based product pipeline.

Frank said, “We are excited to partner with NC State and work with Dr. Williams and his team to develop a proprietary form of psilocybin that can be produced at scale for research and commercial purposes while allowing us to create our own unique product offerings with psilocybin in different delivery methods so as to treat the various mental health conditions and other diseases that psilocybin has shown to be a potential viable treatment option for.”

While it’s too early to understand what this will mean to current fighters and how a safe and controlled micro-dosing regimen can be implemented, a path is being created to find a new way to help these athletes with life after competing.

Revive trades in Canada under the symbol RVV and in the U.S. under RVVTF.

Revive Therapeutics (QB) (USOTC:RVVTF)
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