Magdalena is focused on developing novel, natural prescription medicines derived from plants for mental health indications
SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / July 8, 2025 / Jaguar Health, Inc.(NASDAQ:JAGX) ("Jaguar") today announced that an access and benefit sharing agreement focused on two cultivated species of the coca plant - Erythroxylum coca and Erythroxylum novogranatense - from Peru has been signed between Peru's National Institute of Agrarian Innovation (INIA) and Psilo Scientific, a subsidiary of Filament Health Corp.(OTC:FLHLF) ("Filament"). The access agreement authorizes the research program of Magdalena Biosciences ("Magdalena"), a US-based joint venture formed by Jaguar and Filament, into a variety of potential mental health and central nervous system (CNS) indications for coca.
"Psilo Scientific, Filament, Jaguar and Magdalena are very pleased about the signing of this coca access agreement," said Steven King, Ph.D., Jaguar's Chief Sustainable Supply and Ethnobotanical Research Officer and an Advisor to Magdalena. "As part of the authorization of this research project, an Internationally Recognized Certificate of Compliance (IRCC) has been granted and published on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) website. The CBD is an international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of the components of biodiversity, and the equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources. An IRCC is a key mechanism under the CBD and the Nagoya Protocol to ensure fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of genetic resources and indigenous knowledge."
"The entire Magdalena team is deeply grateful to our Peruvian partner organizations in this research program, the Univeridad Nacional Agraria La Molina (La Molina) and the Empresa Nacional de La Coca (ENACO) for their collaboration, expertise and guidance," said Dr. King. "We are also grateful to the people of the Andean region who have domesticated the sacred plant, 'mama coca', which is and has been interwoven in the ritual, spiritual and traditional medicine of indigenous and non-indigenous communities for centuries. A great deal of the history and current work on coca was presented by indigenous leaders, scientists, government officials, social scientists and nonprofit public health experts in Peru at the Wisdom of the Leaf Coca Summit, organized by the McKenna Academy, in February 2025."
Magdalena's mission is to develop novel, safe, efficacious next-generation psychoactive FDA-approved plant-based drugs under FDA Botanical Guidance for mental health and CNS indications.
"We believe that the development of Botanical Drugs from 'whole extract' coca leaf can provide therapeutic benefit, and that the development process will benefit the people of Peru, who have been sustainably producing coca leaves for several thousand years," said Dr. Karen Brunke, Jaguar's EVP of Corporate and Business Development and Acting CEO of Magdalena. "In traditional medicine, coca leaves are utilized as a remedy for a wide variety of conditions, ranging from alleviating oral pain, digestive maladies, hunger, and altitude sickness, as well as muscular and skeletal aches. Many commonly used neuropsychiatric medications have side effects such as personality changes or sedation. With centuries of use by indigenous healers and traditional psychiatrists, plant-derived medicines offer potential new mechanisms of action for treating mental disorders while being potentially safer than chemically synthesized small molecule drugs that may have 'off target' effects."
"The authorization from INIA to Magdalena and Psilo Scientific is a key step in the important work of exploring coca leaf's therapeutic potential for the treatment of various mental health and CNS indications," said Benjamin Lightburn, Chief Executive Officer of Filament Health and Magdalena Board Member.
ABOUT MAGDALENA BIOSCIENCES
Jaguar Health, Inc. and Filament Health Corp. formed Magdalena Biosciences, Inc. as a joint venture in 2023 to develop novel, natural prescription medicines derived from plants for mental health and CNS indications. Boulder, Colorado-based One Small Planet, founded by Will Peterffy, has committed to funding of US$1,000,000. The goal of the collaboration is to extend the botanical drug development capabilities of Jaguar and Filament in order to develop pharmaceutical-grade, standardized drug candidates for mental health disorders.
ABOUT FILAMENT HEALTH (OTC:FLHLF)
Filament Health is a clinical-stage natural psychedelic drug development company. We believe that safe, standardized, naturally-derived psychedelic medicines can improve the lives of many, and our mission is to see them in the hands of everyone who needs them as soon as possible. Filament's platform of proprietary intellectual property enables the discovery, development, and delivery of natural psychedelic medicines. We are paving the way with what we believe to be the first-ever natural psychedelic drug candidates.
Learn more at www.filament.health and on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
ABOUT THE JAGUAR HEALTH FAMILY OF COMPANIES
Jaguar Health, Inc. (Jaguar) is a commercial stage pharmaceuticals company focused on developing novel proprietary prescription medicines sustainably derived from plants from rainforest areas for people and animals with gastrointestinal distress, specifically associated with overactive bowel, which includes symptoms such as chronic debilitating diarrhea, urgency, bowel incontinence, and cramping pain. Jaguar family company Napo Pharmaceuticals (Napo) focuses on developing and commercializing human prescription pharmaceuticals for essential supportive care and management of neglected gastrointestinal symptoms across multiple complicated disease states. Napo's crofelemer is FDA-approved under the brand name Mytesi® for the symptomatic relief of noninfectious diarrhea in adults with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral therapy. Jaguar family company Napo Therapeutics is an Italian corporation Jaguar established in Milan, Italy in 2021 focused on expanding crofelemer access in Europe and specifically for orphan diseases. Jaguar Animal Health is a Jaguar tradename. Magdalena Biosciences, a joint venture formed by Jaguar and Filament Health Corp. that emerged from Jaguar's Entheogen Therapeutics Initiative (ETI), is focused on developing novel prescription medicines derived from plants for mental health indications.
For more information about:
Jaguar Health, visit https://jaguar.health
Napo Pharmaceuticals, visit www.napopharma.com
Napo Therapeutics, visit napotherapeutics.com
Magdalena Biosciences, visit magdalenabiosciences.com
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Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements." These include statements regarding the belief that the development of Botanical Drugs from 'whole extract' coca leaf can provide therapeutic benefit, and that the development process will benefit the people of Peru. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "aim," "anticipate," "could," "intend," "target," "project," "contemplate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this release are only predictions. Jaguar has based these forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified and some of which are beyond Jaguar's control. Except as required by applicable law, Jaguar does not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.
Source: Jaguar Health, Inc.
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SOURCE: Jaguar Health, Inc.
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