MindMed Spearheads Phase 2 Trial Of LSD, Fending Off Mental Health Affliction, Impact Of COVID-19 Coronavirus

The COVID-19 coronavirus has prompted mass business closures, leading some economic forecasters to suggest 50 million jobs may be vulnerable to permanent layoffs, a scenario that may fuel the emergence of a mental health catastrophe.

In a bid to address the arrival of a national health crisis, Mind Medicine (MindMed) Inc. MMEDF, a neuro-pharmaceutical company for psychedelic inspired medicines, announced its collaboration with the laboratory of Professor Dr. Matthias Liechti, the world’s leading psychedelics, pharmacology and clinical research group at University Hospital Basel, in Switzerland.

As part of the agreement, MindMed will gain the exclusive rights to data, compounds, and patents associated with Liechti’s research on LSD and other psychoactive substances, helping accelerate a Phase 2 clinical trial of high dose LSD treatments.

“The Phase 2 trial for anxiety is extremely relevant right now and for years to come after this whole COVID-19 thing ends,” said JR Rahn, MindMed Co-Founder, and Co-CEO. “Mental health and addiction are going to be the real results of this shutdown, and people will have mental issues that they didn’t have before.”

In the next 24 to 36 months, MindMed’s main objective rests on providing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with an application on psychedelic treatments; “Our focus right now is on the LSD clinical trials of psychedelics and proving that they can be medicine. We’ll be doing that through the FDA pathway,” Rahn said.

Helping MindMed prevent the next opioid crisis and replace existing anxiety fighting substances like benzodiazepines is Canadian businessman, author, investor, and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary. O’Leary joined MindMed as an investor and partner, helping the company deliver on its mission to address mental health and afflictions brought on by economic fallout from the coronavirus.

"If you look at just depression or anxiety, there haven’t been new drugs for that in 35 years,” O’Leary told Benzinga. “My hope is that some of these strategies -- micro-dosing, psychedelics, or other molecules -- may end up being very effective, where other drugs haven’t.”

O’Leary additionally pointed to anecdotal evidence on psychedelics improving productivity in high-stress environments; “When you hear that kind of thing, that anecdotal information intrigues you to explore the use of these drugs as medicines. And so, that’s what MindMed is doing, and that’s why I’m an early investor in it,” said O’Leary to Midas Letter, an online business channel for investors.

To learn more about MindMed’s mission to create mainstream medicines for neuro-psychiatric conditions, visit www.mindmed.co.

Photo courtesy of Neo Exchange Inc. and Spencer Xiong Photography.