A Dreaded Season for Anorexia Sufferers – Shortwave’s Radical New Hope
“…shareholder money is being judiciously apportioned to securing intellectual property rights for this “game-changing” treatment…”
Christmas is a time for excess filled with overindulgence. For those suffering from anorexia nervosa it is a much dreaded season and the stress associated with the holiday can exacerbate the condition.
Crudely put anorexia nervosa is the eating disorder with the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric condition from both medical and physiological points of view, and a treatment for it is the primary focus of Aquis-listed Shortwave Life Sciences.
“In western countries we know about 4% of women and less than 1% of men who suffer from anorexia nervosa,” says Shortwave’s Chief Medical Advisor Dr Nadya Lisodover. “It affects many thousands in the U.K and globally and it carries one of the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric disorder. Roughly 5% of diagnosed patients will die within 10 years after their diagnosis.”
Lisodover explains the company’s pathway to creating a solution for what is to date is ‘treatment resistant,’ has limited therapeutic options and has a ‘very high’ medical burden.
The company’s approach in nutshell combines a psilocybin and additional psychedelics with “a very structured clinical protocol designed specifically for anorexia.”
For those unfamiliar with psilocybin it is a psychedelic compound found in many mushroom species and can therefore be categorised as plant-based medicine.
What Shortwave has created is unique says Lisodover and its formulations helps “patients to reduce their cognitive rigidity, responses and to improve their ability to fight the disease both mentally and physiologically.” It also addresses the ‘maladaptive reward processes’ that drives anorexia.
The team at Shortwave is small but impactful and all are working with Lisodover to engineer the route to clinic, regulatory approval and revenue generation.
In addition to his experience with plant-based solutions, director Ron Lipsky has substantial corporate credentials and explains that shareholder money is being judiciously apportioned to securing intellectual property rights for this “game-changing” treatment as well as its delivery methods which are “also licensable products that we can use with other companies, so it adds to our potential revenue streams moving forward.”
While proof of concept is being accelerated, the team is creating a platform to develop additional products to expand into other psychiatric and neurological conditions with similar ‘maladaptive processes’ such as depression and ‘any kind of psychiatric or neurological conditions related to chronic pain or very legit psychiatric disorders.’
With the experience of fellow director Stephen Malloy the company is also using a very legitimate digital asset strategy that hedges the company’s financial status and allows Shortwave make its money last longer.
As Lipsky explains to Sarah Lowther in this video interview “We want to find solutions to treat these patients as quickly as possible and then launch our clinical pipeline with all the best tools in place to achieve treatment.”
Follow the company on X – @ShortwavePLC
The author was remunerated but does not hold shares in the company
