An innovative mushroom extract-based pharmaceutical product to help opioid use disorder patients withdraw from opioid use

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PsiClone is a UK-based pharmaceutical development SME with a core project team of Adam George (CEO/former CFO and joint head of R&D at GW Pharmaceuticals) and Dean Putt (COO/Controlled drug specialist).Opioid addiction has reached epidemic levels and is a major global issue. Figures from the US indicate that the economic cost of opioid addiction was ~$1T in 2017\. There are 1.2M US 'maintained addicts'-- those prescribed opioid maintenance therapies, which do nothing to help patients withdraw from opioid use. There are no alternatives available and little development is taking place.Current opioid substitution therapies maintain patients in a state of controlled addiction, unable to return to normal family life, requiring daily supervised methadone or buprenophine dosing with these opioid products at high risk of diversion and abuse. Of those who do manage to withdraw from opioid use, 70% relapse within a year. The annual death rate in the US from opioid misuse is 100K.With 250,000 prescribed Methadone users, the UK suffers similar, though not as severe, issues.Alternative non-opioid pharmaceutical treatment options are urgently needed. Clinical trials indicate that molecules found naturally in Psilocybe mushrooms show promise as potential treatments for severe depression and addiction. PsiClone is developing a mushroom extract-based pharmaceutical product to help opioid use disorder (OUD) patients withdraw from opioid use.Any pharmaceutical product that can help patients achieve sobriety would have a dramatic societal impact. The societal costs of drug-related crime, the impact on family life and antisocial behaviour associated with drug abuse, deaths and drug crime could all be reduced by a new effective treatment option.