SciSparc and Clearmind Medicine have signed a research agreement with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to assess their proprietary combination treatment for obesity and metabolic syndrome.
The study to be led by the university will evaluate the combination of SciSparc’s Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) and Clearmind’s Methoxy-2-aminoindane (MEAI), a proprietary psychedelic treatment for various addictions.
Palmitoylethanolamide is the active pharmaceutical ingredient of SciSparc’s proprietary CannAmide, which is an oral formulation for the reduction of chronic pain and inflammation.
A previous pre-clinical study was also conducted at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem using MEAI.
The study had multi-parameter metabolic assessments like body weight, fat mass, insulin sensitivity, glucose tolerance, liver enzymes, and accumulation of fat along with patterns of food consumption.
The trial consisted of three groups of rodents including a group of lean rodents that were given a standard diet, obese rodents that were fed a high-fat diet, and obese rodents that were fed a high-fat diet in addition to treatment with MEAI.
According to the previous study’s findings, obese animals fed by high-fat diet and given MEAI had an increased energy expenditure and showed better fat utilisation. The animals also lost 20% of their body weight, while also having less total body fat and more lean body mass.
Additionally, the therapy resulted in a return to normal insulin levels, enhanced tolerance to glucose, and decreased liver fat and triglyceride buildup.
According to SciSparc, these outcomes were vastly superior to those attained by the untreated group of obese rats fed a high-fat diet.
Furthermore, after receiving MEAI for two days, a substantial decline in sucrose preference was seen, supporting the idea that it may potentially reduce the hedonic value of rewarding stimuli.
SciSparc CEO Oz Adler said: “We are excited to continue our fruitful journey of scientific discovery alongside Clearmind Medicine and the esteemed Professor Joseph Tam of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
“We believe that the synergistic effect of our proprietary CannAmide and Clearmind’s proprietary MEAI has immense potential in treating obesity and metabolic syndrome, two global health challenges of significant scale.”