40 ‘New’ Psychedelic Compounds Found In More Than 25 Species of Mushrooms

Mydecine Innovations Group announced its research and development teams have discovered more than 40 unique compounds with pharmacological potential in more than 25 species of mushrooms, a majority of which appear to have never before been reported.

“All, we know, have psilocybin and psilocin in them but what that tells us is … that there is much more going on,” Mydecine CEO Josh Bartch told Proactive New York. 

The company is analyzing the different compounds using AI technologies to better understand their pharmacological potential. “We can get these active compounds and screen them almost instantaneously against millions of receptor bases far outside the traditional serotonin receptor that everybody’s very interested in,” Bartch said. 

Most mushrooms have not been investigated for their chemical components. “Since these compounds are evolved to affect biological systems and aspects of metabolic pathways, they stand a higher chance of proving to be useful pharmaceuticals,” senior scientist Duffy Sloley, PhD, explained in a company news release. “As a consequence, studies of the structural, chemical, and possibly fortuitous pharmacological properties of these unknown compounds may lead to the development of beneficial pharmacological treatments for a number of disease states.”

Mydecine also announced it had been granted approval from Health Canada to significantly expand its cultivation capabilities at its Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation facility in Canada. 

The company has built one of the world’s largest libraries of documented psilocybin-producing mushrooms cultivating them in a facility in Jamaica. Health Canada’s approval will enable Mydecine to centralize its cultivation activities under one roof in a controlled, cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practice) facility. 

“We were the first company to really pioneer a 99.9 percent pure single molecule psilocybin derived from a naturalist source,” Bartch told Proactive New York. But looking through “FDA and Health Canada’s lens, they want to see that originating source and make sure that originating source is [manufactured] in a cGMP-certified facility that has serious security protocols, manufacturing protocols, cleanliness protocols, etcetera.” 

The new facility will also enable Mydecine to produce enough psilocybin to supply clinical trials and research into new iterations and improvement of the molecules, as well as prepare for commercialization of psilocybin as regulations evolve.