They're real ...

Many of you know this journey started years ago with, for and because of my friend Ivan. And as more data became available, the journey grew from a calling to a mission that required full-time attention.

That’s resulted in amazing progress only possible because of a handful of people brave enough to commit their money to a project that bucks the status quo – that challenges ideas and approaches discovered in the 1960s and fixed in place since the 1970s.

Once we identified experts willing to look at the data, they became a coalition who support and encourage our work. We established a relationship with clinical trial experts excited to perform the Phase 2 clinical trials. We built a team providing the leadership and operational expertise we needed. We engaged with regulators to confirm our path forward. We worked with an established manufacturer to reformulate and manufacture RB-190 for use in the clinical trials. And now we are preparing the application to launch the first clinical trial.

And as shared last week, we just signed contracts to be part of an incubator with an amazing organization (Dassault Systèmes) to provide expertise and tools that assures our trial is conducted efficiently, reliably and with results that are believable.

There are days where the project feels overwhelming.

Recently we tackled the challenge of creating and then validating a blood test so we can measure the blood levels of the drug. We’ve not been told this is a requirement, but it will prove valuable. How do we tackle this new challenge? By identifying the small steps that get us to the end result, which starts by searching for (and finding) several examples in the literature of the kind of blood tests we want. That's a starting point for working with companies that do this day in and day out. We end up with a manageable plan and soon, we'll get that part of the project going.

There are days where the process still feels abstract.

Many of you write me with that kind of feel to your messages. Your questions are typically about when and where the trial will launch and whether people like you may be eligible.

And there are days with tangible achievements.

This week, I got to see and hold the RB-190 pills. At first glance, these tablets may not seem so special, as they are just white tablets. But to me, this is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

Let this picture reassure; we are getting close to trial launch. And it won’t take much time once we start to prove to the establishment that his path is the right one to pursue. After all, if dopamine were a disease of dopamine deficiency, then RB-190 should make people worse. When we show that it does not, we’ll prove the establishment wrong. Then we can move faster to prove the RB-190 works.

Enjoy the picture. If you are – or know – a person who may be brave enough to invest and has the resources to do so, let me know so we can accelerate our movement forward.