Abstract

Recently, there has been a surge of interest in psilocin and related 5-HT agonists for the treatment of mental disorders. In order to improve treatment efficacy, we synthesized several prodrugs of psilocin and are currently formulating them in various dosage forms. The development aims for these new dosage forms are: increased control of drug release and action, storage stability of the prodrugs, and individualized dosing.

To this end, we identified pharmaceutically acceptable prodrugs and their corresponding salts and established a manufacturing protocol that delivers a uniform and reproducible product with consistent crystalline form. We carried out several assays with the prodrugs and their formulations in order to study their physical, physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties. In particular, these include stability profiling, solubility determination, and permeation behavior using in vitro and cell culture models. The results will guide further adjustment to the targeted product profiles.

Furthermore, additional properties of the obtained dosage forms such as dissolution rate, uniformity, and friability will be studied to verify the suitability of excipients and manufacturing parameters.