Scientists treating depression and a range of other mental illnesses have been running controlled trials using MDMA and psychedelic drugs such as LSD and the results have been encouragingAside from the profound immediate health challenges of the global pandemic, many countries in recent years have had huge increases in numbers of people presenting with depression and other mental illnesses. In the UK, prescriptions for antidepressants has more than doubled in the past decade. This huge demand has meant opportunities for research into all sorts of possible treatments for mental illnesses and for Robin Carhart-Harris that has meant groundbreaking investigations into the possible therapeutic uses of psychedelics and other controlled substances. The mind-altering properties of drugs such as ecstasy, LSD and magic mushrooms are well known, but their usefulness to medicine has until now not been the subject of rigorous medical trials. The early results are encouraging. Robin tells Rachel Humphreys how he has been leading work showing how psilocybin ( or magic mushrooms) can be used to assist psychotherapy for difficult-to-treat depression, making a significant difference where conventional antidepressants and talking therapy have not. Continue reading......

Psychologist Dr Elizabeth Nielson is a therapist on clinical trials of psilocybin-assisted treatment of alcohol use disorder, MDMA-assisted treatment of PTSD, and psilocybin-assisted treatment of treatment-resistant depression. She is one of the lead trainers on our therapist training programme and co-author of a paper on our therapist training programme for psilocybin therapy, published recently in Frontiers in Psychiatry. The post Elizabeth Nielson talks about our Therapist Charter appeared first on Compass Pathways....

The post New England Journal of Medicine publishes exploratory study showing signals of positive activity in COMP360 psilocybin compared with escitalopram for major depressive disorder appeared first on Compass Pathways....

Trial suggests psilocybin combined with psychological therapy is as effective as antidepressant drugMagic mushrooms have a long and rich history. Now scientists say they could play an important role in the future, with their active ingredient a promising treatment for depression.The results from a small, phase two clinical trial have revealed that two doses of psilocybin appears to be as effective as the common antidepressant escitalopram in treating moderate to severe major depressive disorder, at least when combined with psychological therapy. Continue reading......

$15m grant comes despite TGA’s failure to reschedule MDMA and psilocybin from a prohibited substance to a controlled medicine The use of magic mushrooms, ecstasy and other psychedelic drugs to treat mental illnesses, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, may be a step closer in Australia, with clinical trials given a $15m grant.Despite international evidence suggesting the medicinal effectiveness of psychedelic drugs to treat mental health conditions, the Australian Therapeutic Drug Association last month made an interim decision against rescheduling MDMA and psilocybin from a prohibited substance (schedule 9) to a controlled medicine (schedule 8). Continue reading......

This week sees the opening of the first UK high-street clinic offering psychedelic-assisted therapy. Could popping psilocybin be the future of mental healthcare?In the summer of 1981, when he was 13, Grant crashed a trail motorbike into a wall at his parents’ house in Cambridgeshire. He’d been hiding it in the shed, but “it was far too powerful for me, and on my very first time starting it in the garden, I smashed it into a wall”. His mother came outside to find the skinny teenager in a heap next to the crumpled motorbike. “I was in a lot of trouble.”Grant hadn’t given this childhood memory much thought in the intervening years, but one hot August day in 2019, it came back to him with such clarity that, at 53, now a stocky father of two, he suddenly understood it as a clue to his dangerously unhealthy relationship with alcohol. Continue reading......

Summary List PlacementAtai Life Sciences, the psychedelics giant backed by big name investors like Peter Thiel, will start trading on Friday. The company was founded in 2018 and has gained momentum over the past few years, raising over $350 million from investors. In documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in late April, Atai said it plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol "ATAI." Atai's founders are Christian Angermayer, Florian Brand, Srinivas Rao, and Lars Christian Wilde. The company started as a vehicle to fund psychedelics companies like Compass Pathways, which is focused on developing psilocybin-based medications for treatment-resistant depression. Compass went public on the Nasdaq in September and now has a valuation of $1.56 billion. Atai owns 19.7% of Compass. Atai has developed into a biotech platform company, Brand told Insider in an interview last year, meaning it invests in and works closely with companies looking to develop medicines for mental-health conditions using psychedelics like psilocybin, arketamine, and ibogaine. Atai now has a portfolio of 10 therapeutic programs, around half of which are focused on developing psychedelics medications to treat mental illnesses. Atai would become the second psychedelics company to IPO on a major US exchange after Compass. Other psychedelics companies — like Bright Minds, MindMed, Field Trip, and MagicMed — have recently listed or applied to list through acquisitions or uplisting from Canadian exchanges. The banks leading the offering include Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Cowen, Berenberg, Cantor, RBC Capital Markets, and Canaccord Genuity. Insider read through the company's latest 446-page IPO filing, dated June 11, to learn more about its structure and strategy. Here are the seven key takeaways. The company is targeting a $2.3 billion valuation Atai will sell 15 million shares for $15 apiece, the company said. Underwriters will also have an option to buy another 2.25 million shares. The company would raise about $225 million and reach a valuation of $2.3 billion. Atai has had significant losses since it was founded and expects to continue to lose money As a company focused on developing medications and then asking the US Food and Drug Administration to approve them, Atai doesn't expect to make any money until its medications win clearance and are available for sale. In 2019, the company posted a loss of $14.1 million. In 2020, its losses were about $170 million. As of December 2020, Atai had $97.2 million cash on hand. In March, the company raised around $158 million through a Series D round, the filing says. The company says it has not generated any revenue and does "not expect to generate any revenue from the sale of our product candidates for the foreseeable future." If its medications are approved, Atai says it could generate revenue from product sales, collaborations, and license agreements but notes that there is a risk that the company's experimental products may not be approved. One of the experimental treatments an Atai subsidiary is working on has progressed to a mid-stage trial in people. The rest are in early stages of research. The company has 10 therapeutic programs in its pipeline, five of which are focused on psychedelic compounds Over the past few years, Atai has acquired and incubated several portfolio companies, which are focused on either creating psychedelic compounds focused on treating mental illnesses or developing technology to aid treatment and research. Atai has full ownership of three, a majority stake in five, and a minority stake in two of these companies. The company has options to acquire further shares in a number of its current portfolio companies. Perception Neuroscience is developing a ketamine-based drug as a rapid-acting antidepressant that may have the potential to work as an alternative to Johnson & Johnson's ketamine-based treatment called Spravato. Other portfolio companies are working with compounds based on ibogaine, DMT, and MDMA. Not included among these 10 is Compass Pathways, in which Atai has a 19.7% stake as of May 4, 2021, according to the filing. Atai notes it has limited operational control or influence over Compass. Patents are an integral part of Atai's strategy as the company plans for what happens after FDA approval Several of Atai's portfolio companies have applied for patents. Atai notes in its S-1 that its success "depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain protection of intellectual property, particularly patents, in the United States and other countries." The company added that it also relies on trade secrets to protect parts of its business and says that because trade secrets are difficult to protect, it uses confidentiality agreements with its collaborators and scientific advisors as well as non-competition agreements with employees and contractors to protect its business. Perception Neuroscience, Recognify, DemeRx IB, GABA Therapeutics, and Neuronasal all either own issued patents or have patents pending in the US and other countries. The patents range from pharmaceutical composition of compounds to methods of use and treatment. Atai says that IP is handled directly by its individual platform companies and the company is not actively involved in the management of IP. Under a section entitled "risks associated with our business," Atai notes that third parties that claim infringement, misappropriation, or violation of their intellectual property rights may "prevent or delay development and commercialization efforts." The company's largest shareholders will have stakes worth hundreds of millions after the IPO Two investment funds — Apeiron Investment Group and Galaxy Group Investments, — have at least a 5% stake in Atai as of June 11. Kendall Capital Markets, which was listed as having a 5.2% stake in the company in Atai's original IPO filing, has been removed from the list. Apeiron Investment Group, Angermayer's family office, owns 29 million shares, or a 21.1% stake ahead of the IPO. The stake is worth about $435 million. Galaxy Group has a 6.7% stake, worth $138 million. Florian Brand, Atai's CEO, owns 6.1 million shares of the company, or a 4.3% stake, worth $92 million. Thiel, the billionaire VC known for cofounding PayPal, invested in Atai's Series A, Series C, and Series D rounds, according to PitchBook. He invested via his Thiel Capital fund and as an individual. His stake isn't listed in the filing. Atai will use the IPO proceeds to fund the development of psychedelic-based medicines Atai plans to use the proceeds from the IPO, for the most part, to fund the development of the 10 therapeutic programs in its pipeline. Around $40 million to $50 million of the funds will be earmarked for Perception Neuroscience's ketamine-based drug development. Recognify, which is developing treatments for cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia, will get between $30 million and $40 million, while some funds will also be dedicated to Atai's other therapies and developing technologies. The company notes in its filing that it plans to use between $75 million and $85 million to fund future acquisitions and development opportunities. There are plenty of risks to investing in Atai — including the rocky path to market and the high failure rate of companies developing medications Biotech companies that don't yet have any approved medications on market carry high risk for investors, because clinical trials are expensive and often fail. Atai is no exception, and the company lays out a plethora of additional risk factors in its S-1 filing, including the time and funding necessary to undergo clinical trials, the need to meet requirements set forth by regulatory bodies, the risk of dealing with substances regulated by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, and the cost of commercializing any products that are given approval. In addition, the company says that its overall value may rest on the shoulders of a single — or select few — of its companies and programs because of the uncertain nature of clinical developments. But if any of Atai's companies are successful, approved, and commercialized? The company says it believes that several of its medications have the potential to treat common mental illnesses and compete in markets where annual sales top $1 billion. This article was originally published on April 22. It was updated on June 11 with information from Atai's most recent filing.Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Where you should go to stay safe during an earthquake...

Helmed by Prof David Nutt, this documentary follows volunteers as they swap antidepressants for psilocybin ... and it’s the closest they’ve come to joy in yearsIn 2008, Prof David Nutt was made chair of the government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. A year later, Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacologist, was sacked by the same government after insisting – I paraphrase minimally – that fags and booze were more dangerous than cannabis and ecstasy. Twelve years on, he is still clearly furious about it – not the sacking, but the lack of evidence-based thinking behind it. “I just couldn’t bear to mislead the public … their policies were so wrong,” he says in The Psychedelic Drug Trial (BBC Two). The hour-long documentary follows Nutt’s flagship study with Dr Robin Carhart-Harris into the possible uses of psilocybin (AKA magic mushrooms) as an alternative and potentially better treatment for depression than the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) which are commonly prescribed.For this double-blind trial, 59 carefully screened volunteers with long-term depression are divided into two groups. One group will be given two doses of psilocybin three weeks apart. The other will be treated with escitalopram, an SSRI. Everyone is closely supervised by medical staff and a clinical psychologist at all times. Don’t try this at home, kids. Continue reading......

There are many ways to let your mind loose and fly higher than cloud nine, but one of the most psychotropic experiences you can get is from natural hallucinogenic like mushrooms. These are a far cry from the mushrooms you’d pick at grocery stores since these contain psilocybin, a psychoactive substance that can cause a […] The post Types of Psychedelic Mushrooms: Physical and Mental Effects of Shrooms appeared first on Addiction Now | Substance Abuse, Drug Addiction and Recovery News Source....

This guest post is by John Robertson, the owner of the blog Maps of the Mind. At the start of last year, I decided to commit to a plant-based diet. This final step came after years of being in this very strange place of being a supporter of plant-based diets and generally understanding and agreeing… The post Psychedelics and Veganism: Personal Change Catalysed by Psilocybin appeared first on Sam Woolfe....

TX House approves marijuana decrim; Congressional bills on cannabis studies; ME psilocybin legalization; LA cannabis fee bill advances Subscribe to receive Marijuana Moment’s newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. It’s the best way to make sure you know which cannabis stories are shaping the day. Your support makes Marijuana Moment possible… Looking for more cannabis […] The post Lawmakers push fed protections for state cannabis laws (Newsletter: April 30, 2021) appeared first on Marijuana Moment....