Revive Therapeutics

Revive Therapeutics is a Canadian life sciences company “focused on the research and development of therapeutics for infectious diseases and rare disorders.” It has been granted several designations by the Food and Drug Administration including Orphan Drug, Fast Track, Breakthrough Therapy, and Rare Pediatric Disease. Though founded in 2012, Revive’s foray into psychedelic pharmaceuticals began when it acquired Psilocin Pharma Corp in February 2020. 

Several partnerships with academic institutions support Revive’s drug development. The company is working with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study how psilocybin may treat traumatic brain injury (for which it applied for Orphan Drug status), methamphetamine use disorder, and stroke. It also partners with North Carolina State University to create novel biosynthetic psilocybin. The University of Health Sciences Antigua will carry out clinical research and development for the company’s “tannin and chitosan formulations with unique delivery features,” which set Revive apart from its peers, CEO Michael Frank told Amanda Siebert of Forbes,

The tannin-chitosan formulations are the basis of several of Revive’s delivery methods, including capsules, tablets, lozenges, topical gels, ointments, creams, and its trailblazing dissolving oral strips, which were developed through a collaboration with LTS Lohmann Therapie-Systeme AG. The oral strips were completed in November 2020 and can deliver one- to twenty-milligram doses of natural or synthetic psilocybin, making them well-suited to microdosing. Revive’s IP portfolio also includes a revolutionary microneedle patch, created in partnership with PharmaTher. Additionally, the company has filed a provisional patent for “Methods for the Extraction and Crystallization of Psilocybin.”

In 2020, Revive began research efforts to assess bucillamine, a (non-psychedelic) compound that’s been used for rheumatoid arthritis, as a COVID-19 treatment.