Psyched: Investment Banks Bullish On Atai Life Sciences, Wesana's $17M Purchase Of PsyTech, Creso Pharma Acquires Halucenex

A number of financial firms and investment banks initiated coverage of Atai Life Sciences ATAI last week.

Ratings ranged from a sober sector performance rating from RBC Capital Markets with a $19 12-month price target to a bullish Overweight rating from Cantor Fitzgerald, which gave Atai a 12-month price target of $45.

Atai stock closed at $17.38 in Friday's trading session.

Other coverage included an Outperform from Credit Suisse with a price target of $25; Buy ratings from Citigroup and Aegis Capital with price targets of $26 and a Buy rating from Berenberg with a $35 price target. Canaccord Genuity also gave Atai a Buy rating and Cowen & Co. rated it as Outperform.

Cantor expects the biotech to “become a leader in developing drugs to facilitate a new paradigm for treating high unmet need mental health disorders,” praising the company’s decentralized, portfolio business model. 

RBC sees a longer-term upside opportunity for success for Atai, but in the near term it expects “in-line trade as the company executes on its early clinical development and in-licensing strategies until the programs mature further and more de-risking data emerge.”

Wesana Health To Purchase PsyTech In $17M All-Stock Transaction

Wesana Health Holdings WESA, a life sciences company that champions the development of psychedelics and other medicines for the treatment of traumatic brain injury, announced a definitive agreement to acquire PsyTech Inc. in an all-stock transaction for approximately CA$21 million ($16.8 million). The purchase will make PsyTech a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wesana.

PsyTech will bring on “Tovana Solutions,” its clinical software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, which will be rebranded “Wesana Solutions.” The platform eases access to clinical protocols and tracks their efficacy by collecting data on both providers and patients, as well as real-time tracking, patient management and analysis.

PsyTech will also bring over its Tovana Clinics, which will be rebranded “Wesana Clinics.” These two psychiatrist-led mental health clinics located in Chicago are focused on delivering ketamine therapy, among other treatments. A third clinic has been announced as currently under construction and the company has more clinics planned for the near future.

Lastly, the PsyTech Connect platform will be added to the Wesana ecosystem. It is described as a “psychedelic therapy community” with over 8,000 actively engaged professionals. 

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, subject to final shareholder approval by PsyTech.

California Psychedelics Bill Moves Up The Assembly As Activist Present Ballot Initiative

California’s SB 519, meant to decriminalize the use, possession and social sharing of several psychedelic substances passed another milestone by gaining approval from the Assembly Public Health Committee in an 8-4 vote.

The bill passed a full Senate vote in early June and now only needs the approval of the Assembly Appropriations Committee before going to a floor vote by the Assembly.

Sponsored by Senator Scott Wiener, the bill would remove criminal penalties for adults 21 and older carrying or using psilocybin mushrooms, DMT, ibogaine, LSD and MDMA.

As per Marijuana Moment, this committee approval came with an inclusion of possession limits for the proposed law, which are: 2 grams of DMT, 15 grams of ibogaine, 0.01 grams of LSD, 4 grams of mescaline, 4 grams of MDMA and 2 grams of psilocybin (or psilocin) or 4 ounces of a plant or fungi containing such substances.

Since social sharing of substances would also be allowed under this law, facilitators would be permitted to possess larger amounts if they can justify that they are meant for use by individuals participating in a ceremony. Personal cultivation would have no caps.

Concurrently, activists submitted a petition with the state attorney general’s office to include a measure in the 2022 ballot that would legalize the “personal, medical, therapeutic, religious, spiritual, and dietary use of psilocybin mushrooms” for adults 21 and older.

Awakn Life Sciences Launches Ketamine Research Program For Alcohol And Gambling Addiction

Awakn Life Sciences AWKN officially announced the launch of a research program that will study the use of ketamine in substance abuse disorder and behavioral addictions. 

The new program will consist of a late-stage clinical trial focused on alcohol use disorder and a mechanistic study focused on gambling addiction as well as intellectual property development activities.

In a recent interview with Benzinga, Anthony Tennyson, CEO of the UK-based company, explained how Awakn’s research into ketamine will allow it to improve protocols for delivering treatment at its own clinics.

The research will be led by Professor Celia Morgan from the University of Exeter in the UK.

Creso Pharma Acquires Halucenex In A Step Up For Red Light Holland

Cannabis company Creso Pharma has entered the psychedelics sector with the purchase of Halucenex Life Sciences, a Canadian psychedelics company working towards obtaining FDA and Health Canada permission to conduct a Phase 2 clinical trial on psilocybin for PTSD.

The news was also enthusiastically announced by Red Light Holland TRIP TRUFF, which in June signed a definitive agreement to merge with Creso Pharma into a new company that will be called The HighBrid Lab.

The merged group expects to increase vertical integration strategies “from growing, harvesting, packaging, branding and distribution to potential bricks and mortar stores,” including sales of CBD, THC, psilocybin and functional mushroom products, where legally permitted.

Cannabis industry veteran Bruce Linton has been proposed as chairman of the new company’s board of directors.