Psilocybe cyanescens - photo by Maks Houbit

Overcoming limitations of current psychedelics


  • Even though research shows certain psychedelics have promising effects on neurological health in short-term laboratory experiments, the therapeutic approaches currently studied in clinical trials are not optimal for long-term treatment of elderly patients, especially in advanced states of neurodegeneration.
  • High-dose treatment (psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy)
    Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy uses psychedelics in high doses, which is mentally demanding, has many contraindications and requires a considerable time commitment from a specially trained psychotherapist. It was designed for and will likely be suitable only for mental health disorders.
  • Low-dose treatment (microdosing)
    In microdosing, low or “subperceptual” doses are administered regularly, however, tolerance build-up caused by most psychedelics results in diminishing or inconstant therapeutic action. Clinical trials have not yet shown significant therapeutic efficacy or even long-term safety (due to risk of 5-HT2B-mediated cardiotoxicity).
  • "Nonpsychedelic psychedelics” (psychoplastogens)
    Some researchers are exploring derivatives of psychedelics that apparently produce therapeutic action (in animal models of mental health disorders) with no or minimal psychedelic effects. These compounds likely have a unique mechanism of antidepressant action, different from the distinctive psychedelic action that is promising in neurodegeneration.

Founding team

Our experience in entrepreneurship, applied AI, software development & psychedelic drug design make us a well-rounded team, ready for the new era of drug discovery.

Dr Richard Dallaway

Combined expertise in machine learning and software engineering

Long history of successfully applying AI in different fields

Ing. Jáchym Fibír, MSc

Medicinal chemistry and pharmacology

4 years of research in psychedelic drug design, including an MSc at UCL

Suran Goonatilake, OBE

AI entrepreneur

Co-founder of AI startup Searchspace ($150m exit)

Professor at UCL Centre for AI

Scientific advisory board

April19's advisors bring a wide range of experience and expertise, including computational drug design and cheminformatics, organic synthesis of psychoactive drugs and their legal handling, and preclinical assays of neurodegeneration with classical psychedelics:

Assoc. Prof. Ing. Martin Kuchař, Ph.D

Associate professor Kuchař is acting Head of the Forensic Laboratory of Biologically Active Substances (BAFA) at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague (UCT), where April19 co-founder Jáchym Fibír discovered and synthesized our unique class of psychedelic-inspired compounds. As a bioorganic chemist with over 10 years of experience in neuropsychopharmacological research and forensic toxicology, he is well-positioned to advise April19 on the development of novel psychoactive compounds. He facilitates the partnership between BAFA and April19, helping to find the best possible arrangement for resource sharing in the joint development of these compounds. At BAFA, he focuses on the synthesis of pure alkaloids, their metabolism, and pharmacological characteristics, which are critical for the development of safe and effective drugs. Furthermore, as an active member of the International Forensic Toxicological Society, his expertise with both legal and illegal narcotics and psychotropic substances is invaluable for ensuring that the development of novel psychedelics meets legal requirements.

Prof. Ing. Daniel Svozil, Ph.D

As the Head of the Department of Informatics and Chemistry at UCT Prague, and the creator and guarantor of BSc, MSc, and Ph.D study programs in bioinformatics, professor Svozil has over 20 years of experience in structural bioinformatics, computational drug design and computational chemical biology. His research interests include virtual screening and chemical space exploration, de novo molecular design using deep learning approaches, synthetic accessibility prediction, and molecular target identification—all directly relevant to April19's mission to design and develop novel psychedelics using AI. His broad expertise in cheminformatics, particularly in integrating the latest AI models and computational techniques, will help us accelerate the drug discovery process and identify novel psychedelics that might not be discoverable through traditional methods. Moreover, having access to his professional network will enable us to identify and hire highly-skilled computational chemists in the field of AI-assisted drug discovery.

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