WTF are 🍄 Psychedelics and Why Are They All The Hype?
A tldr; on the last few years of research/development.
Hey y’all.
Wilson here with the first edition of Right In Your Mind.
Quick reminder to subscribe if you haven’t yet 😉.
Let’s kick it off.
This week - we’re talking 🤯 psychedelics 🤯.
⚠️ Disclaimer: None of this is medical advice. Use common sense, and follow the law yo.
Deep Dive🤿 - Psychedelics in Mental Health
In 2017, the FDA granted ‘Breakthrough Therapy Designation’ to MDMA for PTSD1.
In 2020, two psychedelic startups went through the YCombinator program, and presented at Demo Day2.
In 2021, John Hopkins Medicine got the first US federal grant in 50 years for psychedelic research 3.
Maybe (just maybe) it’s worth taking a look at what psychedelics actually are…
WTF are psychedelics?
There are 2 types:
Classical Psychedelics.
These are your LSD/DMT/Psilocybin… and so on. We really don’t know how they work - only that they’re ‘agonists’ on your Seratonin-2A receptor.
Non-classical Psychedelics.
These include MDMA, Ketamine, Cannabis - and work in completely different ways to each other. It’s your ‘everything else’ bucket.
The chemistry is a bit all over the place - but the effects are similar. They’re all:
"powerful psychoactive substances that alter perception and mood and affect numerous cognitive processes."
according to American psychologist David Nichols4.
Ok… so what?
Why are we talking about substances that have been illegal since the 1970s?
Well - for one thing - 1 in 4 people globally experience a mental health condition5, and the current best treatment we have - SSRIs (anti-depressants) are only 20% more effective than a placebo6.
Psychedelics have shown incredible promise in this space - and honestly, we’re not in a position to write anything off.
The Applications
The 3 highest-profile usecases for psychedelics are:
MDMA for PTSD treatment.
Ketamine (as Esketamine) for Treatment-Resistant Depression.
Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression.
💊 MDMA for PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an incredibly damaging condition (affecting over 12% of Australian adults in their lifetime.)
It’s also one of the first conditions where psychedelics started to show real promise.
The current treatments - Talk Therapy, Behavioural Therapy - leave up to 58% of patients still with symptoms after treatment.7 Meanwhile, 61-68% of patients in a trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy no longer meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD8.
No wonder the FDA granted it ‘Breakthrough Therapy Designation’ in 2017.
🐎 Ketamine for Depression
Depression is a condition that really needs no introduction.
In 2019 - the US FDA approved the use of a formulation of ketamine (esketamine) for treatment resistant depression9.
This is… surprising, given that ketamine is best known as a 🎠 horse tranquiliser.
But there’s no denying the:
“significant improvement[s] in depression, anxiety, and the severity of illness”
from substantial research on ketamine for depression10.
🍄 Psilocybin for Depression
Meanwhile - psilocybin (a compound found in magic mushrooms) is famous for producing ✨ mystical experiences ✨.
Fortunately - they’ve also been found to be at least as effective as SSRIs in treating depression11.
A super-recent study by Compass Pathways has also shown that larger doses significantly reduce scores on a depression scale vs smaller doses12.
The Psychedelic Renaissance
Just as research is hot - startup-land is thriving.
According to a report from Tania Gonsalves at Canaccord Genuity13 - the total market could reach 100 billion, with startups are going all-in for research, distribution, and creation.
As one exec put it - we’re in the middle of a psychedelic renaisssance. 🚀
There are some frontrunners though.
On the startup front (in Australia) - Psylo has just raised its first $1.1 million to focus on preclinical drug development. In the US - Mindmed, Compass Pathways, Atai Life Sciences, and Cybin have all IPO’d - with hundreds of millions in size.
What’s clear is that the psychedelics space is definitely one to watch closely 👀.
Roundups and Happenings 🎠
Here’s a quick summary on what’s happened this week:
💸 Victoria's doubled their spending (~$141 million) on their Youth Mental Health program.
🍄 Cybin's CYB003 proprietary psilocybin's got steam - with a 50% reduction in variability, 50% decrease in dose required, and 50% shorter time to onset vs oral psyilocybin.
🖥️ Talkspace got $3 million from the National Institute of Mental Health to treat PTSD - using "Cognitive Processing Therapy" virtually.
🏆 Microdose awarded Kathryn Walker (CEO of Revitalist) their Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
📈 Clinical Ink - a decendtralized clinical trial leader - was ranked on the Deloitte Tech Fast 500, with 293% growth YoY.
🧑🏻🤝🧑🏻 Beatrice Society and Mindsetting are teaming up to tackle psychedelic medicine.
🎉 Headspace is now free for all teens in the US!
🤯 Biomind Labs has developed a new DMT nasal gel aimed at depression, anxiety and other disorders.
Actions 🎯
Here are a couple job openings in the space:
And that’s that!
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Leave a comment, and let me know what you think!
👋🏻 Wilson
https://mapscontent.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/pdfs/2017.08.15+-+IND063384+Grant+Breakthrough+Therapy+Designation(1)_Redacted.pdf
https://psychedelicinvest.com/two-psychedelic-companies-present-at-y-combinator-demo-day-2020/
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/johns-hopkins-medicine-receives-first-federal-grant-for-psychedelic-treatment-research-in-50-years
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4813425/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK361016/
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-mdma-assisted-therapy-ptsd
https://maps.org/research/mdma/ptsd/phase3
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-new-nasal-spray-medication-treatment-resistant-depression-available-only-certified
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6767816/
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2032994
https://ir.compasspathways.com/news-releases/news-release-details/compass-pathways-announces-positive-topline-results
https://menafn.com/1101357239/Psychedelic-Medicines-May-Develop-into-100-Billion-Business-Opportunity