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Entheon Biomedical Corp. (OTCQB:ENTBF), the biotech research and development company focused on developing DMT-based treatments for addiction and substance use disorders, announced its acquisition of Lobo Genetics, Inc., a Toronto-based personalized genetics company, for 5 million common shares.
The deal is part of Entheon’s larger mission to develop a slate of effective and objective tools for predicting and measuring treatment outcomes on an individual patient basis. Here’s why that matters and how Entheon is working to achieve that goal.
The Need for Objective Tools to Predict and Measure Psychedelic Treatment Outcomes
After a long pause, researchers in the past decade or so have renewed interest in studying psychedelics, like Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and ketamine, as potential treatments in mood disorders, addiction and other categories of mental illness.
The studies that have come out over the past few decades have shown promising results. One meta-analysis of that research found that patients receiving psychedelic-assisted therapy were 80% more likely to have a positive outcome than their counterparts in the placebo control groups. Another meta-analysis found that psychedelic-assisted treatments showed significant results in patients with tobacco and alcohol dependence.
As promising as that research has been, however, further clinical studies and treatment development are hampered by a few key challenges. Determining the correct dose to use, predicting and preparing for the kind of experience each individual patient will have — and the limited tools available for objectively measuring treatment outcomes beyond a patient’s own reported results — are the main concerns.
Those challenges are precisely where Entheon has been focusing much of its efforts lately. By exploring the potential for genetics testing and other tools, the biotech company aims to develop a portfolio of screening and diagnostics tools that can lead to more precision dosing and more accurate predictions of which patients are the best candidates for psychedelic-assisted therapies.
Lobo Genetics Inc Acquisition Adds Direct-to-Consumer Screening Platform to Entheon Portfolio
Earlier this year, Entheon already announced the launch of the industry’s first genetics testing kit for evaluating a person’s potential outcomes with psychedelics. The HaluGen kit was developed in partnership with Lobo Genetics, which Entheon acquired in July.
While the test is mostly meant to screen patients before deciding on treatment, it’s an important preliminary tool in helping researchers and patients identify who the best candidates for psychedelic-assisted therapy are.
Entheon Sponsors Clinical Research Into Using EEG Data to Measure Treatment Response
In addition to screening platforms like the HaluGen kit, Entheon is also looking into tools to help measure outcomes during and after a psychedelic treatment program. In August, the company announced that it was sponsoring a clinical study by Heading Health to evaluate the potential of using electroencephalograph (EEG) data to objectively measure a patient’s response to psychedelic treatment.
The Heading Health study will look at ketamine, but Entheon hopes to extend that research to other molecules, including DMT, later on. Researchers will monitor EEG data in patients during a ketamine treatment session with an eye toward finding out whether and which EEG biomarker data can predict long-term response to the treatment.
Building a Powerful Data-Driven AI to Build and Monitor Treatment Plans
Ultimately, Entheon aims to combine that genetics data from the Lobo Genetics acquisition with the EEG data from the Heading Health study to develop Entheon IQ™, the company’s treatment algorithm.
The Entheon IQ™ platform will use AI and machine learning to evaluate patient data to generate insights on correct dosing, provide real-time feedback during treatment and help healthcare providers and patients develop a post-therapy support system.