Mindstate Design Labs has announced that it has received FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMA) approval to begin human trials for its compound, MSD-001. This marks a significant step in validating Mindstate's neurotech AI platform, Osmanthus, which is designed to craft new altered states of consciousness.
A Novel Approach to Psychedelics
MSD-001 is central to Mindstate’s innovative approach. CEO Dillan DiNardo described it as having mild effects at clinical doses, referring to it as “somewhat tofu-like” or “psychedelic tofu.” MSD-001 shares properties with traditional psychedelics like MDMA, psilocybin, and LSD, but with a narrower range of effects, making it suitable for creating customized altered states of consciousness.
“We chose MSD-001 because it is somewhat tofu-like,” DiNardo said. “We were looking for a psychedelic that had serotonergic specificity—a drug that only hits these serotonin receptors, unlike psychedelics like LSD or DMT, which are very messy molecules, chemically speaking. They hit many different receptors across the brain.”
MSD-001's specificity for serotonin receptors results in effects that are very manageable. According to DiNardo, at clinical doses, users are unlikely to experience the intense interactions or ego loss associated with higher doses of other psychedelics.
The innovation lies in combining MSD-001 with other compounds, or “probes,” to create specific, targeted psychoactive effects. These probes can be mild or, at different doses, introduce more pronounced effects, offering modularity and the ability to intentionally design various effects on human cognition or perception.
Phase 1 Human Trials
With FDA and EMA approval secured, Mindstate will initiate Phase 1 human trials for MSD-001 at the Centre for Human Drug Research in Leiden, Netherlands. The study will involve 52 healthy participants in a double-blind, placebo-controlled design.
The trials will primarily focus on assessing the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK), and pharmacodynamics (PD) of the drug. Additional assessments will include qEEG and fMRI to map the neural basis of psychedelic action.
DiNardo emphasized the broader implications of these trials for psychedelic research, stating, “What this means for the future of psychedelics is that we are intending to move this whole discussion, this whole field of research beyond psychedelics.” He envisions using psychedelics as tools to understand the architecture of the mind, enabling the intentional design of states of consciousness.
Ethical Considerations and Future Applications
Mindstate is also considering the ethical implications of designing new altered states of consciousness, particularly those that induce previously unknown effects. DiNardo stated that they thoroughly characterize potential adverse events seen with existing psychedelics and design states of consciousness to enhance the safety profile, aiming for a profile of psychoactive effects that provide the most possible efficacy for patients.
The company hopes to expand the utility of psychedelics beyond commonly researched disorders like PTSD, depression, anxiety, and substance use disorder to other diseases associated with a narrow mental or behavioral repertoire, such as stuttering.
The Role of AI
At the core of Mindstate’s work is its AI-driven Osmanthus platform, which synthesizes over 70,000 human drug reports with a comprehensive repository of biochemical data on psychedelics. This allows Mindstate to design specific, targeted psychoactive effects with precision.
Mindstate’s approach focuses on designing specific states of consciousness rather than just discovering new drugs, which DiNardo describes as a “mindstate-first approach.” This offers a significant advantage in precision and control, enabling the design of acute psychoactive effects.
Mindstate aims to create disease-modifying therapies rather than merely managing symptoms. DiNardo hopes that their drug will become the first line of care, used alone or in combination, to provide real relief to patients.
