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Tactogen

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Tactogen
Company typePublic benefit corporation
IndustryPharmaceutical; Psychedelic medicine
Founded2020; 5 years ago (2020) in Palo Alto, United States
FounderMatthew J. Baggott; Luke Pustejovsky
Headquarters
Palo Alto, California
,
United States
Websitetactogen.com

Tactogen is a public benefit corporation and start-up pharmaceutical company based in Palo Alto, California that is developing novel MDMA-like entactogens and psychedelics as medicines.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Its stated goal is to develop new MDMA-like drugs with improved effectiveness, tolerability, and safety, as well as gentleness and accessibility, for treatment of psychiatric disorders and other conditions.[1][2][5][7] Tactogen was co-founded by neuroscientist Matthew J. Baggott and Luke Pustejovsky in 2020.[1][6][8] Baggott is the chief executive officer (CEO) while Pustejovsky is the chief operating officer (COO).[6][9]

Drug candidates

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Tactogen has patented various novel entactogen-like compounds from different chemical families.[2][10][11][9] These include benzofurans like 5-MAPB, 5-MBPB, and BK-5-MAPB,[12][13][14][15] benzothiophenes like 5-MAPBT,[16][15] α-alkyltryptamines like BK-NM-AMT,[17] indolizines like 2ZEDMA, 1ZP2MA, and Z2MAP1O,[18][19] 2-aminoindanes like "BFAI",[20] and non-racemic mixtures of enantiomers.[21][12][22] It also has several drugs in its developmental pipeline, including TACT411, TACT833, TACT908, and TACT523.[1][7][23][24] The company is said to have been the first to develop novel entactogens.[9] It says that it has synthesized hundreds of different molecules[9] and claims that it has developed the largest known library of entactogenic compounds.[11]

At least some of Tactogen's candidates are said to be benzofurans, for instance 5-MAPB.[1] In preliminary research, they have found that 5-MAPB appears to reduce social anxiety and promote self-compassion similarly to MDMA, but does not seem to promote energy and positive emotions as much as MDMA, and hence may retain therapeutic efficacy with less misuse potential.[1] Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of Tactogen's drug candidates in healthy volunteers and people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are said to be in the planning stages as of February 2024.[1] Some of its candidates have been said to lack the serotonergic neurotoxicity of MDMA in animals.[1]

Tactogen is additionally studying a combination of MDMA and citalopram wherein MDMA is followed by the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) citalopram in efforts to reduce the serotonergic neurotoxicity and negative after-effects of MDMA.[7][25][23][26] A phase 2 trial of this strategy is planned to commence in 2025.[7][25][23] Following the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s rejection of Lykos Therapeutics's MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Tactogen said in late 2024 that it is seriously considering prioritizing its novel compounds over its MDMA/citalopram product.[7]

Funding

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In January 2023, it was reported that Tactogen had raised $6.3 million since early 2020.[9][27]

Selected publications

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Presentations

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  • Matthew Baggott (18 June 2023). "Better Than Ecstasy: Progress in Developing a Novel Class of Therapeutic with Matthew Baggott, PhD". YouTube. Tactogen. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  • Baggott M (23 June 2023). Beyond Ecstasy: Progress in Developing and Understanding a Novel Class of Therapeutic Medicine. PS2023 [Psychedelic Science 2023, June 19-23, 2023, Denver, Colorado]. Denver, CO: Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.

Studies

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Knutsen, Ashleen (1 February 2024). "Psychedelics Coming into the Modern Age of Medicine: The history of psychedelics spans the spiritual, the recreational, and the legal—and now the medical, thanks to safer and more convenient molecules and protocols". Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. 44 (2): 44–47. doi:10.1089/gen.44.02.15. ISSN 1935-472X. Tactogen is another company working to make MDMA safer—safe enough so that it could be taken at home, increasing treatment accessibility. The company is developing new molecules based on the MDMA structure that minimize adverse side effects such as blood pressure changes and the "high" feeling, while still maintaining the positive effects. [...] Tactogen's candidate compounds, developed to minimize adverse events, contain the chemical substructure benzofuran. In a preliminary analysis comparing another benzofuran-based molecule, 5-MAPB, to MDMA, Tactogen scientists found no difference in the degree of change in social anxiety and self-compassion. However, 5-MAPB did not have as strong an effect on high-energy, positive emotions as did MDMA, suggesting potentially lower abuse liability. [...] "MDMA and drugs in its class seem to help people contemplate without discomfort things that would normally be upsetting," says Matthew Baggott, PhD, the co-founder and CEO of Tactogen. [...] Tactogen has several promising candidate compounds in development. Preclinical tests in animals suggest that they are well tolerated, retain the key effects of MDMA without depleting serotonin, and may have durable fast-acting antidepressant effects. Tactogen is preparing for clinical trials and anticipates beginning Phase I trials with healthy volunteers and Phase II trials in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder within 18 months.
  2. ^ a b c Krieger, Lisa M. (12 December 2023). "New psychedelic-like drugs: All treatment, no trip?". The Mercury News. Retrieved 29 January 2025. "Our goal is to make medicines that are derived from psychedelics that are safer and gentler, more effective and more accessible," said Matthew Baggott, former director of data science and engineering at Genentech, whose Palo Alto-based startup Tactogen has patented several novel MDMA, or "Ecstasy," molecules that offer spiritual and personal insights with less heart-racing anxiety and euphoria. [...] Tactogen co-founders Luke Pustejovsky, left, and Matthew Baggott, right, on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in Redwood City, Calif. The startup Tactogen has patented several novel molecules that minimize adverse effects while retaining the therapeutic promise of MDMA, or "Esctasy."(Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
  3. ^ Nuwer, R. (2023). I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World. Bloomsbury USA. ISBN 978-1-63557-957-4. Retrieved 27 January 2025. [...] said Matthew Baggott, a neuroscientist, history enthusiast, and cofounder and CEO of Tactogen, a company trying to develop new MDMA-like molecules. [...]
  4. ^ Nuwer, Rachel (18 August 2023). "MDMA Risks and How to Reduce Them". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 January 2025. Many of MDMA's health risks relate to the fact that it is an amphetamine derivative, said Matthew Baggott, a neuroscientist and chief executive of Tactogen, a life sciences company developing MDMA-like molecules for medical use.
  5. ^ a b James W. Jesso (1 June 2023). "Entactogens, MDMA, and Bringing New Love Drugs To Market (with Matthew Baggott)". Adventures Through The Mind (Podcast). Retrieved 27 January 2025. Matthew Baggott is a neuroscientist who has worked over three decades to legally study MDMA and related molecules. His research has ranged from studying the neurotoxicity of amphetamines in rodents to studying changes in emotional experience in people who have been given MDA or MDMA in a laboratory setting. Matthew is co-founder and CEO of Tactogen Inc, a public benefit corporation that is developing a next-generation of gentler, more accessible MDMA-like medicines. [...]
  6. ^ a b c Rex, Erica (5 August 2021). "A Conversation with Dr Matthew Baggott". The Brave New World: Psychedelics in a Neoliberal Society. Retrieved 27 January 2025. Pharmaceutical entrepreneur and data scientist Matthew Baggott, the CEO and co-founder of Tactogen, never set out to enter the psychoactive pharmaceutical business. [...] Dr Baggott founded Tactogen in 2020, a public benefit corporation1 [...]
  7. ^ a b c d e f Goodwin, Kate (30 September 2024). "MDMA Drug Developers Reprioritize Following Lykos Rejection in PTSD". BioSpace. Retrieved 27 January 2025. [...] Matthew Baggott, co-founder and CEO of psychedelics-focused Tactogen, [...] Tactogen's pipeline includes a number of preclinical molecules that Baggott said he believes will be superior to MDMA. [...] Amidst this debate, Tactogen is working to improve the safety profile of MDMA through fixed dose combinations in hopes of decreasing side effects like difficulty concentrating and mood instability seen in some participants in the days after use. The company also hopes to improve tolerability with its program combining MDMA with citalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) used to treat depression, for PTSD. Baggott anticipates beginning Phase II trials with the combo in 2025.
  8. ^ a b Nuwer, Rachel (6 November 2023). "The Search for New Psychedelics". Scientific American. Retrieved 27 January 2025. Nuwer: That's Matt Baggott, a neuroscientist and co-founder and CEO of a start-up called Tactogen. He and his colleagues are trying to make safer and more effective MDMA-like molecules for therapeutic and medical uses. [...]
  9. ^ a b c d e Harrison, Annie Oak (13 January 2023). "Tactogen Supports Community Investment in Drug Development". Lucid News - Psychedelics, Consciousness Technology, and the Future of Wellness. Retrieved 29 January 2025. Tactogen Chief Operating Officer Luke Pustejovsky says this is the first time a drug discovery and development company creating derivatives of psychedelic substances has opened its doors to non-accredited investors. [...] Founded in 2020, Tactogen is creating an initial product line of therapeutic compounds called entactogens, which are more commonly called empathogens. [...] Tactogen is using funding from investors to develop new entactogens, confirm their effects, and file patent applications. To date, it has published four patent applications for candidate molecules. [...] Tactogen has raised $6.3 million since early 2020 and anticipates raising a total of more than $200 million in the next decade to bring its first products to market. The company has immediate plans to raise $4 to $7 million in the first quarter of 2023. [...] According to Baggott, Tactogen was the first company to work on inventing new entactogens and there are now several others, in addition to MAPS, which has advanced the field for decades. Baggott says that Tactogen has now synthesized hundreds of different molecules, including several in target profiles.
  10. ^ Elder, Harrison (26 July 2022). "Ecstasy for the 21st Century: Designer Drugs to Improve MDMA Therapy". Psychedelic Science Review. Retrieved 29 January 2025. Piggybacking off of MDMA's recent success, startups including Palo Alto-based Tactogen have begun developing and patenting novel entactogens patterned off of MDMA and analogues such as the APBs.8,19
  11. ^ a b Dunne, Rowan (27 September 2023). "California startup Tactogen gets U.S. patent for MDMA derivatives". Mugglehead Investment Magazine. Retrieved 29 January 2025. California's startup company Tactogen has patented a series of its MDMA analogues that were designed to reduce negative side effects associated with using the molecule in clinical settings, such as feelings of anxiety and impairment. On Tuesday, the company announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office had granted intellectual property rights for the derivatives, which covers their composition of matter as a mental health treatment. [...] The benzofuran molecules have had oxygen replaced with carbon to increase their resistance to a person's metabolism while prolonging effects and hindering the potential for toxic metabolites to form in the body. The company has been developing novel psychoactive entactogen compounds like these since 2020 and has a series of outstanding patent applications yet to receive approval. [...] "We believe we have amassed the largest library of psychoactive entactogens ever. This diversity of molecules has yielded important insights into how chemicals interact with monoamine systems in the brain," said Baggot. The company says its compounds are more gentle and less euphoric compared to existing psychedelics and can help facilitate psychological growth in users without the need for costly clinical monitoring.
  12. ^ a b "Advantageous benzofuran compositions for mental disorders or enhancement". Google Patents. 8 December 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  13. ^ "Benzofuran salt morphic forms and mixtures for the treatment of mental disorders or mental enhancement". Google Patents. 8 December 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  14. ^ "Advantageous fluorobenzofurans for the treatment of mental disorders or enhancement". Google Patents. 28 March 2024. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  15. ^ a b "2-ethylamine substituted benzofuran and benzothiophene compositions for mental disorders or enhancement". Google Patents. 17 November 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  16. ^ "Advantageous benzothiophene compositions for mental disorders or enhancement". Google Patents. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  17. ^ "Advantageous tryptamine compositions for mental disorders or enhancement". Google Patents. 20 September 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  18. ^ "Indolizine compounds for the treatment of mental disorders or mental enhancement". Google Patents. 3 November 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  19. ^ "Indolizine compounds for the treatment of mental disorders or inflammation". Google Patents. 24 March 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  20. ^ "2-aminoindane compounds for mental disorders or enhancement". Google Patents. 6 February 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  21. ^ "Specialized combinations for mental disorders or mental enhancement". Google Patents. 9 December 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  22. ^ Hamilton Morris (28 November 2023). "POD 92: Understanding and Improving MDMA with Dr. Matthew Baggott". The Hamilton Morris Podcast (Podcast). Patreon. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  23. ^ a b c Michael Haichin (2024). "Psychedelics Drug Development Tracker". Psychedelic Alpha. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  24. ^ "Tactogen Inc – Pipeline". Tactogen Inc. 8 February 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  25. ^ a b Joralemon, Vincent (12 March 2024). "Sorry, You Probably Cannot Get MDMA Through Telehealth". Petrie-Flom Center - The blog of the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School. Retrieved 31 January 2025. [...] there are several other MDMA therapies in clinical trials right now, including Tactogen's Phase 2 MDMA + Citalopram PTSD study, MindMed's Phase 1 R-MDMA Autism Spectrum Disorder study, and EmpathBio's proprietary MDMA derivative PTSD study.
  26. ^ Hillier, David (15 June 2023). "Why Psychedelics Work Differently for People on Antidepressants". VICE. Retrieved 31 January 2025. "There are several studies that gave MDMA and an SSRI to healthy volunteers and compared the effects to MDMA alone. These studies show that even a single dose of an SSRI can reduce the psychological effects of MDMA by as much as 80 percent," says Matt Baggott, an MDMA research heavyweight and CEO of Tactogen, which develops MDMA-like compounds for medicinal use. [...] Interestingly, Baggott tells VICE that taking an SSRI after a MDMA roll "probably works" in alleviating a comedown. He points to animal studies that suggest SSRIs given shortly after MDMA may protect the brain from the negative effects of this overstimulation. He also ran a small, unpublished study with people who typically recorded a comedown post-MDMA, and did not normally take SSRIs. "When I gave them MDMA in a laboratory setting, they performed worse at a demanding cognitive task at both five and 26 hours after MDMA." In a separate session he gave them MDMA, followed three hours later by the SSRI citalopram. He says that this "prevented MDMA-induced performance difficulties without noticeably changing the main emotional effects of MDMA. This supports the idea that SSRIs can reduce the undesirable after-effects of MDMA."
  27. ^ "Psychedelic Bulletin #124: MAPS Wraps Second Phase 3 MDMA Trial; Preparing for atai's PCN-101 Results; Tactogen Launches Community Funding Round". Psychedelic Alpha. 19 November 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2025. Tactogen, a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) which is focused on the discovery and development of entactogens, has raised $6.2 million since early 2020 by more conventional means like VC investment.
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