Numinus Gets Approval to Research Ayahuasca & San Pedro

We’ve been getting mixed messaging from the Canadian federal government. On one hand, Health Canada has been recently denying special permission for patients in need (see Health Canada Denies Psilocybin Access); and on the other, they’ve given other signals of a progressive mindset towards the potential of psychedelics by amending regulations around access (Canada Amends Special Access to Psychedelics).

Which is why today’s news logs in the positive column: Numinus has just received approval from Health Canada to study Ayahuasca and San Pedro. This expansion of their research license shows that the feds acknowledge the potential of plant medicine, and will support at least its research for now.

See below for the full press release and stay tuned for more on this.

Health Canada license renewal expands Numinus’ extensive list of permissible R&D activities

VANCOUVER, BC, March 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ – Numinus Wellness Inc. (“Numinus” or the “Company”) (TSX: NUMI) (OTCQX: NUMIF), a mental healthcare company advancing innovative treatments and safe, evidence-based psychedelic-assisted therapies, is pleased to announce that it has received approval from Health Canada to study Ayahuasca and San Pedro at its licensed, state-of-the-art research facility, Numinus Bioscience. This license expansion will further position Numinus as a recognized global research centre for natural psychedelic medicines, and supplements the current work Numinus is already undertaking on Psilocybe species and inherent synergistic compounds.

Through renewal of its Dealers’ License, Numinus Bioscience is now permitted to work with San Pedro cactus, the beta-carbolines harmaline and harmalol, and the following botanical materials: Banisteriopsis caapi, Psychotria viridis, Diplopterys cabrerana, Mimosa tenuiflora.

The botanical materials are notable for their role as admixtures to Ayahuasca, a psychoactive brew made from multiple plant materials and consumed in Amazonian Indigenous traditional practices for ceremonial, medicinal and spiritual purposes. Harmaline and harmalol naturally occur in B. caapi, while P. viridis, D. cabrerana and M. tenuiflora contain DMT (N, N-Dimethyltryptamine), a tryptamine that produces psychedelic effects. Research will be done to develop standardized analytical methods for the starting materials, finished Ayahuasca brews, and San Pedro (which contains the psychedelic compound, mescaline).

“There is little industry research currently being done on these botanicals,” said Sharan Sidhu, Science Officer and General Manager, Numinus Bioscience. “This exciting advancement at Numinus broadens our study of naturally occurring ethnobotanical substances and admixtures and the synergies of the compounds. This is a first step in helping us better understand their mechanisms and potential therapeutic applications.”

Since 2020, Numinus Bioscience has significantly amended its license to widen its range of research…