Thursday, May 19, 2022
Beckley Psytech Limited, a private company dedicated to addressing neurological and psychiatric disorders through the novel application of psychedelic medicines, and Empatica, Inc., a medical wearables and digital biomarker company offering continuous, passive, and unobtrusive monitoring for patients with neurological conditions, today announced that the companies have entered into a partnership to support the collection and analysis of behavioural and physiological data in Beckley Psytech’s future clinical trials.
This partnership will utilise Empatica’s medical-grade EmbracePlus wearable and software, to identify and measure passive behavioural and physiological signals in the upcoming Phase 2 studies evaluating the use of 5-MeO-DMT in combination with psychotherapy in the treatment of treatment resistant depression (TRD).
The strategic partnership with Empatica is the latest step in Beckley Psytech’s digital strategy to develop personalised treatment programmes for patients in need. The digital enhancement of the psychedelic treatment pathway aims to support patients before, during, and after treatment through the application of novel, predictive biomarkers which will potentially identify early signals of patient response and relapse.
Beckley Psytech aims to establish a complete, end-to-end personalised psychedelic treatment programme, combining advanced digital phenotyping capabilities, such as those developed by Empatica, with psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. This will allow clinicians to provide patients with continuous access to personalised therapy support beyond their treatment, delivering potentially improved outcomes and safety for patients and healthcare systems.
Cosmo Feilding Mellen, CEO of Beckley Psytech, said: “As we look to enhance the safety and effectiveness of our psychedelic treatments with patient-centric digital tools, this partnership with Empatica accelerates our strategy of creating an integrated treatment model to ensure patients are fully supported through the treatment journey. We are thrilled to be working with Empatica, a pioneering digital health company, through our upcoming clinical trials and look forward to further evolving our understanding of how digital tools can support and potentially improve outcomes for patients with neurological and psychiatric conditions.”
Matteo Lai, CEO of Empatica, commented: “We couldn’t be more excited to collaborate with Beckley Psytech on this important project, especially since over the past two years, we have witnessed how critical mental health and depression have become globally. The potential of psychedelic treatments in the field can help millions of patients, and Empatica is honored to contribute its technology in one of the world’s first trials with psychedelics and digital tools, to advance these novel therapies with targeted help and better engagement.”
About 5-MeO-DMT
5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a psychoactive compound which binds to a variety of receptors within the brain pertaining to serotonin. A psychedelic substance which occurs naturally in a number of plant species, as well as in the Sonoran Desert toad, studies have indicated that 5-MeO-DMT is associated with improvements in mood, anxiety, reduced stress, increased life satisfaction and mindfulness. 5-MeO-DMT has been reported to produce mystical experiences with comparative intensity as seen with high doses of psilocybin but has a significantly shorter duration of effect. Beckley Psytech is developing proprietary synthetic intranasal formulations of 5-MeO-DMT (BPL-002 and BPL-003) and plans to evaluate their potential therapeutic effects in patients suffering from Treatment Resistant Depression, as well as other Mood and Use Disorders indications.
Beckley Psytech - www.beckleypsytech.com
Beckley Psytech is a clinical stage privately held company dedicated to helping patients suffering from neurological and psychiatric disorders by developing a broad pipeline of psychedelic compounds in rare and more common diseases. Our vision is for clinically validated psychedelic medicines to be integrated into modern medical practice in order to help patients with high unmet medical need around the world suffering with treatment resistant depression, and other profoundly debilitating neurological conditions. Beckley Psytech was founded in 2019 leveraging some of the expertise developed over more than 20 years by the Beckley Foundation, an independent non-profit and world leader in psychedelic medicine research, and is based out of Oxford, United Kingdom.
Empatica – www.empatica.com
Empatica Inc is a pioneer in continuous, unobtrusive, and remote health monitoring driven by AI. Empatica's platform combines accurate digital biomarkers, software and wearables to monitor multiple conditions. Empatica's products are used by thousands of institutional partners for research purposes, in trials and studies examining Stress, Sleep, Epilepsy, Migraine, Depression, Addiction, and other conditions.
Contacts
Beckley Psytech
Cosmo Feilding Mellen
Chief Executive Officer
info@beckleypsytech.com
Communications
FTI Consulting
Ben Atwell / Mike Trace
+44 (0)20 3727 1000
beckleypsytech@fticonsulting.com
Investor Relations
LifeSci Advisors
Guillaume van Renterghem
+41 76 735 01 31
gvanrenterghem@lifesciadvisors.com
Empatica
Marianna Xenophontos
Director of Marketing
mx@empatica.com
