Posted by Flash (213.123.72.84) on November 21, 2000 at 05:11:06:
Some of you may remember that I had a go at contacting several major pharmaceutical companies regarding the use of LSD and Psilocybin to treat CH. The Scientific Licensing Project Manager (CNS/GI/Pain) Global External Scientific Affairs from one of them called me to discuss it, and we also had some correspondance. This scientist then went to back to the R&D people to find out whether there'd be any interest.
Well the scientist called me back, and the upshot is that they wouldn't be interested under the current circumstances (no this doesn't come as a huge shock), because:
1) They do not own the intellectual rights to either substance.
2) This would change if they knew of a way to alter the substances so that they could claim intellectual rights, however they have no idea how to do this. In order to determine how to alter a substance whilst retaining certain properties, it needs to be tested. This is usually performed in a test tube. However you cannot test the effectiveness of a substance against CH in a test tube, like you can with bacteria, virus or cancer. Think about it! This would mean going straight to trials on humans, at huge expense, and entering a trial and error situation that is unlikely to suceed.
The scientist suggested that our best hope would be from a clinical trial with the original substances. If a clinical trial was sucessful it might be possible for a drug company to claim a special type of intellectual property rights relating to how the substance is used.
One other interesting point is that the R&D people were aware that LSD and Psilocybin could affect both CH and migraine, although not necessarily in a positive way.
Oh - and please note that for obvious reasons I kept the identity of both the scientist and organisation anonymous; I wouldn't want this person contacted by the nutter element!
Regards
Flash