About Products & Pipeline Partnering Investors & News Blog Mental Health Entheogen Therapeutics Initiative In September 2020, Jaguar launched the Entheogen Therapeutics Initiative (ETI) to support the discovery and development of novel, plant-based medicines derived from psychoactive plants for treatment of mood disorders, neuro-degenerative diseases, addiction, and other mental health disorders. ETI is initially focused on plants from the company’s proprietary library of 2,300 plants, with the objective of identifying plants that may have the potential to treat mood disorders, including depression, which affects more than 264 million people of all ages around the globe, according to the World Health Organization. Though the market for antidepressants is expected to reach $19 billion by 2023 and is dominated by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs, an estimated 30 percent of patients are not effectively treated with SSRIs. The Growing Market for Medicines Derived from Psychoactive Plants According to the World Health Organization, one in four people in the world will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives. Around 450 million people currently suffer from such conditions, placing mental disorders among the leading causes of ill-health and disability worldwide. Common mental health conditions include depression, PTSD, anxiety, addiction, bipolar disorder (formerly called manic-depressive illness or manic depression), and anorexia nervosa, and expand to include neuro-degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s disease, and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), among others. Substance use disorders occur when the recurring use of alcohol and/or drugs causes clinically significant impairment, including health problems, disability, and failure to meet major responsibilities at work, home, or school. The Lancet Commission, a group of experts in neuroscience, psychiatry, public health, and related fields, estimates that the cost of mental disorders, currently on the rise in every country, will reach $16 trillion by 2030, including costs associated with lost productivity. Picralima nitida plant, a species of West African plant of the genus Picralima in the family Apocynaceae, and the source of the active ingredient alstonine Clinical research by third parties using psychoactive plants is beginning to show positive results. Psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient found in more than 200 species of mushrooms, received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2018 for treatment resistant depression and in 2019 for major depressive disorder, and MDMA (midomafetamine) received Breakthrough Therapy designation from FDA for posttraumatic stress disorder in 2017. MC-18, a chemical modification of the active chemical component in certain hallucinogenic plants and the recently approved chemical component in Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals’ nasal spray Spravato® (esketamine), is a synthetic analog to the “club drug” ketamine. Spravato received Fast Track and Breakthrough Therapy designations from FDA and is the first novel non-SSRI antidepressant approved by the FDA in more than 20 years. Plant-derived psychoactive compounds appear to have a novel mechanism of action that targets higher regions of the brain than the most widely used SSRI class. These higher regions of the brain are believed to be where the pathology/biology of depression lies. There appears to be growing enthusiasm among patients and the healthcare community for pure compounds derived from psychoactive plants, likely because of encouraging clinical trial results, and a survey of 2,000 Americans conducted by OnePoll found one in two of those surveyed have eschewed more traditional medicine in favor of natural alternatives. Leveraging Jaguar’s Library of 2,300 Medicinal Plants Jaguar’s library of approximately 2,300 medicinal plants from tropical regions comprises a unique asset to drive drug discovery. The plant collection was assembled over a decade by integrated ethnobotanist physician teams who conducted primary, first-hand field investigations and plant identification work in rainforest regions around the globe in addition to gathering data about traditional medicinal uses of plants from shamans and other Indigenous healers. Jaguar also has FDA-approved commercial GMP manufacturing systems in place, which has allowed the company to take crofelemer from a plant sustainably harvested in the rainforest to a pure compound and finished, FDA-approved prescription product: Mytesi. Banisteriopsis Caapi flowers, one of the Ayahuasca plants Jaguar’s team has always recognized and valued the unique and powerful knowledge Indigenous and traditional peoples have about plants, ecosystems, and healing compounds, and the company looks forward to continuing its mission to advance sustainably derived plant-based medicines while establishing a responsible harvesting program to ensure both quality and ecological integrity. Jaguar’s library contains plant specimens gathered from Central America, South America, Africa, and South East Asia, including a broad diversity of plant extracts from roots, shrubs, bark, leaves, fruits and seeds. The World-class ETI Scientific Strategy Team Jaguar believes the wealth of expertise, experience, and commitment of the ETI scientific strategy team – comprised of multiple members of the original scientific strategy team that contributed to development of Jaguar’s proprietary library of approximately 2,300 plants – will play an instrumental role in advancing the company’s shared initial goal of identifying plants in Jaguar’s library that may have the potential to treat mood disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic sclerosis. Mood disorders and neurodegenerative diseases affect hundreds of millions of people around the globe and represent classic unmet medical needs. Many members of the scientific strategy team that contributed to the development of Jaguar’s plant library were trained by the late Dr. Richard Evans Schultes, who is often referred to as the father of modern ethnobotany. Dr. Schultes was the Jeffrey Professor of Biology and Director of the Botanical Museum of Harvard University. He conducted field studies for 48 years during his career, much of that time in the Colombian Amazon. He focused his research on medicinal, psychoactive plants and new sources of rubber, and investigated a wide diversity of psychoactive plants including but not limited to peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, virola snuffs, as well as Ayahuasca and its many admixtures. Members of ETI Scientific Strategy Team: Michael J. Balick, Ph.D.: Considered one of the world’s leading ethnobotanists and economic botanists; specialist in healing plants and toxic plants and their use by Indigenous peoples; research associate of the Brain Chemistry Labs of the Institute of EthnoMedicine; member of original scientific strategy team that contributed to development of Jaguar’s plant library. Thomas Carlson, M.D., M.S.: Ethnobotanist, botanist, physician; teaching professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley; member of original scientific strategy team that contributed to development of Jaguar’s plant library; key architect of ethnomedical field research process conducted by ethnobotanist/physician teams of Jaguar predecessor company Shaman Pharmaceuticals. Pravin Chaturvedi, Ph.D.: Pharmacologist with specialty in neuropharmacology; chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Napo Pharmaceuticals (Napo), Jaguar’s wholly owned subsidiary, and the acting chief scientific officer of Jaguar; Over 25+ year career, led discovery and/or development activities for several new chemical entities including development of Napo’s FDA-approved drug product, Mytesi® (crofelemer), the only oral plant-based prescription medicine approved under FDA Botanical Guidance. Stephen Dahmer, M.D.: Ethnomedical researcher and practicing integrative physician; expert on endocannabinoids who has conducted ethnomedical field research in tropical regions. Wade Davis, Ph.D.: Ethnobotanist, anthropologist, writer, and professor of anthropology at University of British Columbia; extensive international ethnobotanical field research. Elaine Elisabetsky, Ph.D.: Among world’s leading ethnopharmacologists; professor in the pharmacology and biochemistry departments of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil; member of original scientific strategy team that contributed to development of Jaguar’s plant library. Nigel Gericke, M.B.B.Ch.: Medical doctor, ethnobotanist, and ethnopharmacologist; former advisory panelist to the United States Pharmacopoeia; longstanding member of the Medicinal Plants Specialist Group of the World Wide Fund For Nature; founding member of the Association for African Medicinal Plants Standards. Maurice Iwu, Ph.D.: President of Bioresources Development Group and founder of International Center for Ethnomedicine and Drug Development (InterCEDD) in Nigeria; member of original scientific strategy team that contributed to development of Jaguar’s plant library. Steven R. King, Ph.D.: Ethnobotanist; Napo’s chief sustainable supply and ethnobotanical research officer; managed Napo’s original scientific strategy team and outcomes; research associate of the Brain Chemistry Labs of the Institute of EthnoMedicine. Charles Limbach, M.D.: Ethnomedical specialist and family medicine physician; member of original scientific strategy team that contributed to development of Jaguar’s plant library. David Sesin, Ph.D.: Natural product chemist; Jaguar’s chief manufacturing officer; created isolation and manufacturing process for Mytesi (crofelemer). Seeking Corporate Partnerships ETI does not endeavor to engage in classic drug development and/or clinical activity. Instead, Jaguar will seek corporate partnerships with companies devoted to bringing novel, plant-based psychoactive therapies to patients with unmet medical needs in a safe and effective manner (which often includes coupling the drug treatment with mental health professional therapy), and in a manner that benefits Indigenous peoples and local communities. Jaguar’s credibility and skillset, stemming from the company’s success developing and commercializing the only oral FDA-approved botanical therapy from Croton lechleri, a medicinal plant sustainably harvested from the Amazonian Rainforest, exemplifies the journey this pipeline could follow in collaboration. © Copyright 2020 Jaguar Health Contact Us | Careers | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Social Media Policy | Website Accessibility Feedback Email | Web Accessibility Feedback Form | Admin |