Revolutionary treatments
for addiction
Drugs and therapies used in combination
Addiction is one of the world’s biggest unmet medical needs. Substance and behavioural addictions affect over 1.3¹ billion people worldwide. Yet all current treatments have high failure rates.
Awakn is developing a better solution to treat addiction: psychedelic therapeutics – drugs and therapies used in combination. We are both a biotechnology company developing these proprietary therapeutics, and an operator of clinics where we deliver them.
Through clinical trials, our team has shown that this approach has the potential to be more effective than any addiction treatment currently available. We now aspire to become the market leader in effective addiction treatment, meeting a vast global need that is failed by current approaches.
Addiction: The other pandemic
Between 15-20% of adults suffer from substance addictions¹, and many others from behavioural addictions.
Yet available treatments are poor. Just 16% of Alcohol Use Disorder sufferers seek treatment, and up to 75%² of those people relapse within 12 months. Behavioural addictions are so poorly served there is no good data available on either treatment or success rates.
Despite these high failure rates, $17bn³ per year (and rising) is spent by on private addiction treatment. The individuals footing this bill have a right to expect more.
Our unique evidence-based approach
Awakn is developing a revolutionary new approach for treating substance and behavioural addictions.
Based on new research, Awakn’s drugs uniquely target the brain circuits that drive addiction, through multiple receptors rather than the single drug receptors targeted by existing treatments. These circuits control the behavioural drivers of addiction. By focusing on circuit mechanisms rather than isolated receptors, our treatments have the potential to be effective in the treatment of both substance and behavioural addictions.
This brain circuit-disruption allows the individual to engage with Awakn’s psychotherapeutic process in unique ways that enable clients to escape repetitive addictive behaviours and thoughts; and make long lasting positive changes.
Awakn’s team has successfully conducted the world’s only clinical trials of ketamine and MDMA in a therapeutic setting as treatments for alcohol use disorder. We are now conducting trials for other addictions, including gambling, and building a pipeline of patentable psychedelic therapeutics that will create even more effective medicines in future.
Together, this gives us a world-beating proposition for tackling addiction.
Why Awakn:
Multiple scalable revenue streams
- Clinics from 2021
- Partnerships from 2022
- Therapeutics Commercialization from 2025
Focus on addiction (substance and behavior)
- Biggest unmet medical need of our times
- Current treatment options have limited efficacy
- Significant current and future market opportunity
Our approach – a paradigm shift
- Targeting brain circuits rather than individual receptor sites
- Combined novel therapeutics - drugs and therapies used in combination
- Potential to treat both substance and behavioral addictions
IP portfolio
- 10 patent filings covering multiple chemical series and clinical targets
- A completed Phase II ab trial for Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy to treat Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)
- A planned Phase IIb trial for MDMA as a treatment for AUD with ethics approval forecast for Q4 2021
World renowned team
- Prof David Nutt, Prof. Celia Morgan, Dr. Ben Sessa, Dr. Shaun McNulty, Prof. Barbara Mason, Dr. Harriet DeWit
Global research leaders in the field of psychedelic treatment for addiction
- Dr. Ben Sessa led the world’s only MDMA assisted psychotherapy and AUD study (BIMA).
- Prof Celia Morgan led the world’s only ketamine assisted psychotherapy study (KARE)
References:
1. Source: Prevalence of the Addictions: A Problem of the Majority or the Minority? Steve Sussman, Nadra Lisha, and Mark Griffiths
2. Source: “Treatment rates for alcohol use disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis” by Tesfa Mekonen.
3. Source: Reports and Data (reportsanddata.com) - Drug Addiction Treatment Market.
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