atai Life Sciences CSO says NIH grant will help tackle OUD using its discovery program

Proactive - Interviews for investors

atai Life Sciences chief scientific officer Glenn Short talked with Proactive's Stephen Gunnion about the company’s recent NIH grant and its innovative discovery program targeting opioid use disorder (OUD). Short explained that the NIH grant review process is “highly competitive,” with independent experts assessing the novelty and potential impact of atai’s work. He said this was the first time external reviewers had a chance to examine the company’s serotonergic 2A/2C agonists, compounds with non-hallucinogenic potential designed to address the challenges of OUD. The program began in 2019, when atai set out to develop novel compounds using artificial intelligence. Through its partnership with Cyclica (now part of Recursion Pharma), the company used AI-driven proteome scanning to design molecules with the desired pharmacology while avoiding adverse effects. Short noted that the approach led to the discovery of promising compounds that do not appear to have hallucinogenic properties, yet may reduce craving and relapse risk by targeting serotonergic pathways. He emphasized the urgent need for new OUD treatments, given that the condition affects about 16.00 million people worldwide and leads to more than 120,000 deaths annually. Current therapies remain limited, but atai believes its compounds could address multiple dimensions of addiction, from trauma processing to drug-seeking behaviors. Short also underlined the importance of public-private partnerships, highlighting how collaboration with the National Institute on Drug Abuse could accelerate development. For more interviews like this, visit Proactive’s YouTube channel. Don’t forget to like this video, subscribe, and enable notifications to stay updated on future content. #ataiLifeSciences #OpioidUseDisorder #NIHGrant #MentalHealthInnovation #DrugDiscovery #NonHallucinogenic #AddictionTreatment #PharmaceuticalResearch #AIinDrugDiscovery #ProactiveInvestors