BetterLife Pharma Inc. announced that it has obtained the first set of positive in vivo pharmacokinetic (PK) data confirming the bioavailability of its lead compound BETR-001 (2-bromo-LSD, formerly TD-0148A) in the brain (target tissue) and plasma of treated mice. BETR-001 is a non-hallucinogenic derivative of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). The company had previously confirmed the non-hallucinogenic property of BETR-001 in the head-twitch-response (HTR) assay in mice, a model commonly used as a behavioral proxy in rodents for human hallucinogenic effects.

A key objective of the current study was to confirm that lack of hallucinogenic property of BETR-001 is not due to its poor bioavailability especially in the target brain tissue. The key PK data points from this mouse study conducted at Nucro-Technics (Scarborough, ON, Canada) include: A bioanalytical method was established to measure 2-bromo-LSD in mouse plasma and brain tissues. BETR-001 appeared quickly (10 minutes post dose) in the plasma and brain of mice following a single dose and remained detectable up to 8 hours post dose.

Plasma and brain exposure of BETR-001 increased in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The mean terminal half-life of BETR-001 in plasma (1.5 hours) was not significantly different among all dosing groups or between different sexes.