About us

About us

Terran Biosciences is a biotech platform company devoted to the development of transformative therapeutics and technologies for patients with neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Our portfolio includes a late-stage therapy for schizophrenia, late-stage selective serotonin 2A receptor antagonists, a drug design engine that has enabled first-in-class and best-in-class psychedelic therapies, and an AI-enabled imaging software platform.

Our team consists of biopharma industry professionals and successful physician-entrepreneurs, and we are uniquely positioned to become a leader in the rapidly growing renaissance in neuroscience.

Pipeline

Pipeline

Terran’s pipeline includes several innovative late-stage assets, each with the potential to transform the paradigm in patient care  

TerXT  

A combination of xanomeline and trospium prodrugs for the treatment of schizophrenia. Terran designed this novel prodrug approach to enable once-daily oral dose forms and long-acting injections with multi-month duration. With TerXT, Terran intends to pursue accelerated development and regulatory strategies, including the 505(b)(2) approval pathway, and hopes to deliver a novel therapy for patients with an improved use profile, increasing access and affordability.

Idazoxan XR

A novel alpha 2 adrenergic receptor antagonist for the treatment of schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease, which has been tested in several late-stage clinical studies and dosed in over 1000 patients. Phase 2 proof of concept studies have already demonstrated significant efficacy as adjunctive therapy in patients with schizophrenia. Terran has created a novel enantiomerically pure extended-release version of the drug (“Idazoxan XR”) that can be dosed once-daily, solving the pharmacokinetic challenges that historically required 3-4 daily doses. Exclusively licensed from Pierre Fabre, Terran holds global development and commercialization rights. 

Eplivanserin and Volinanserin

Eplivanserin and Volinanserin

Eplivanserin and Volinanserin

Phase 3 selective serotonin 2A receptor antagonists for the treatment of various neuropsychiatric illnesses. Tested in over 15,000 patients across more than 100 clinical trials, Terran is developing fixed-dose combinations of these compound with psychedelics with the goal of removing hallucinations while maintaining efficacy. Monotherapy applications include Parkinson’s psychosis and tailoring psychedelic effects to a desired duration or ending bad psychedelic experiences all together. Exclusively licensed from Sanofi, Terran holds global development and commercialization rights. Terran has also acquired novel deuterated volinanserin from Concert Pharmaceuticals. 

Psychedelics and Empathogens

Terran has one of the largest psychedelic development programs in the industry, including psychedelics with a long history of human use, such as psilocybin, LSD, DOM, 2C-B, the empathogens MDMA and its derivatives (MDEA, methylone, MDAI, MBDB, MDA). Terran has also developed novel psychedelic prodrugs (psilocin, LSD, 2C-B, methylone, long-acting MDMA, orally-active DMT and 5-MeO-DMT)as well as improved psychoplastogens (non-hallucinogenic derivatives of DMT and ibogaine), and therapeutics without effects at the 5-HT2B receptor. Terran is also a leader in the manufacturing of GMP psychedelic compounds and is actively supplying researchers and treatment centers globally.

Psychedelic therapeutics

Psychedelic therapeutics

Psychedelic therapeutics

redesigned

redesigned

redesigned

Drug design

Drug design

Terran’s world-class medicinal chemistry and drug design team is working to solve some of the biggest problems in neuroscience and remove the limitations that affect otherwise highly effective compounds. 


We have designed innovative novel compounds, new synthetic routes, prodrugs and stable labeled compounds with improved pharmacokinetic properties, as well as compounds with modified binding at target receptors, including the removal of binding at targets deemed to be potential liabilities.  

AI Software

AI Software

As a leader in the development of AI-enabled software as a medical device, Terran is committed to developing novel and improved solutions for patients suffering from neurological and psychiatric

disorders.


Terran’s NM-101 is a cloud-based software platform to analyze neuromelanin MRI scans, which has now received FDA clearance. Currently there is no other FDA cleared software indicated for the analysis of neuromelanin MRI on the market, making Terran’s technology the world’s first.


Neuromelanin is a molecule associated with dopamine and norepinephrine neurons in the brain. Over the last two decades, researchers have elucidated its possible role as a biomarker for neurological and

psychiatric disorders [1-6].


Terran’s NM-101 is a cloud-based analysis platform that seamlessly integrates into existing workflows at hospitals and imaging centers. NM-101 allows doctors to send neuromelanin MRI images to Terran

directly through the electronic medical record and receive a full report back in under an hour. When interpreted by a neuroradiologist, NM-101 can provide information useful in determining neuromelanin association as an adjunct to diagnosis.


Team

Team

Team

Sam Clark, MD, PhD

Chief Executive Officer

Dustin Tetzl, MD

Chief Business Officer

Matt Duncton, PhD

Senior Director, Medicinal Chemistry

Marine Yamada

Senior Manager, Strategy & Operations

Robert Fishman, MD

Clinical Lead

Kim Stahl

Clinical Operations Lead 

Steve Smith 

DMPK Lead 

Mamta Hunt

Data Management

James Bernstein, PhD

CMC lead

Grace Jung, PhD 

CMC, Process Chemistry

Vassil Elitzin, PhD

CMC, Process Chemistry

Roy Swaringen, PhD

CMC, Process Chemistry

Ruxandra Lonescu, PhD

CMC, Process Chemistry

Gary Goodson

CMC, Formulation Lead

Joe Chau, PhD

Quality Assurance

Cynthia Gronostajki

Quality Assurance

Ann Newman, PhD

Solid State Chemistry

Bram Lardee

CMC, Analytical Development

Elizabeth Steere

CMC, Analytical Development 

Charles M. Beasley Jr., MD

Clinical Advisor

Advisory Board

Brent Saunders

Chairman & CEO at Bausch + Lomb; Former CEO at Allergan, Actavis, and Forest Labs

Alan Breier, MD

Chair of Terran SAB

Sr. Prof. Psychiatry & Vice-Chair for Clinical Research, IU School of Medicine. Former CMO, Eli Lilly.

John Krystal, MD

Yale, Chair, Psychiatry; Co-Director, Center for Clinical Investigation

Carol Tamminga, MD

Chair, Psychiatry; Chief of Translational Research, UT Southwestern.

Christoph U. Correll, MD

Prof. of Psychiatry, Zucker School of Medicine. Chair, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Charité Univ. Medicine, Berlin.

Richard S.E. Keefe, PhD

Prof. Emeritus in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine

William Z. Potter, MD, PhD

Former Sr. Advisor, Neuropsychiatry at NIMH. Former VP, Translational Neuroscience at Merck.

Jerry Rosenbaum, MD

Harvard, Mass. General, Psychiatrist-in-Chief emeritus; Director, Center for Neuroscience of Psychedelics

John Kane, MD

Zucker School of Medicine, Prof. of Psychiatry; Former Chair of Psychiatry, Zucker Hillside

Qin Wang, MD, PhD

Augusta Univ., Prof. of Neuroscience & Regenerative Medicine

David Rubinow, MD

UNC, Chair Emeritus, Distinguished Prof. of Psychiatry; Former Director, NIMB.

Robert Litman, MD

Georgetown Univ., Associate Prof. of Psychiatry; Medical Director and PI at CenExel CBH

Anissa Abi-Dargham, MD

Stony Brook, Prof. and Chair, Dept. of Psychiatry. Former President of ACNP.

Christoph Kellendonk, PhD

Columbia Univ., Associate Prof. of Pharmacology in Psychiatry

Mark Slifstein, PhD

Stony Brook, Prof. of Psychiatry; Director, PET Research Core

Robert Post, MD

George Washington Univ., Prof. of Psychiatry; Founder, Bipolar Collaborative Network

Lisa Egbuonu-Davis, MD, MPH, MBA

Commercial advisor

Scott Thompson, PhD

Univ. of Colorado, Prof. of Psychiatry; Director, Center for Novel Therapeutics

Contact

Contact

Citations

  1. Okuzumi, A., et al. "Neuromelanin or DaT‐SPECT: which is the better marker for discriminating advanced Parkinson's disease?." European journal of neurology 26.11 (2019): 1408-1416.

  2. Pavese, Nicola. "Is neuromelanin the imaging biomarker for the early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease that we were looking for?." Parkinsonism & Related Disorders 58 (2019): 1-2.

  3. Prasad, Shweta, et al. "Motor asymmetry and neuromelanin imaging: Concordance in Parkinson's disease." Parkinsonism & Related Disorders 53 (2018): 28-32.

  4. Liu, Yu, et al. "Optimizing neuromelanin contrast in the substantia nigra and locus coeruleus using a magnetization transfer contrast prepared 3D gradient recalled echo sequence." Neuroimage 218 (2020): 116935.

  5. Wang, Xiangming, et al. "The diagnostic value of SNpc using NM-MRI in Parkinson’s disease: meta-analysis." Neurological Sciences 40 (2019): 2479-2489.

  6. Sulzer, David, et al. "Neuromelanin detection by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its promise as a biomarker for Parkinson’s disease." NPJ Parkinson's disease 4.1 (2018): 11.