Peter Thiel-Backed Psychedelic Start-Up, ATAI Life Sciences, Increases Stake In Compass Pathways

Biopharmaceutical conglomerate ATAI Life Sciences ATAI, a Peter Thiel-backed psychedelic startup that currently has 10 psychedelic programs in the works, has upped its stake in Compass Pathways CMPS, a drug developer looking to accelerate patient access to psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression.

In recent days, Atai Life Sciences (Compass’ biggest shareholder) increased its ownership in Compass Pathways buying another 619,095 shares, taking its stake in the company from 19.4 to 20.8 percent.  

Christian Angermayer, founder and chairman of Atai, explained to CNBC why the company has an interest in backing research into Compass’ psilocybin therapy to treat depression. “The current treatments which are out there are definitely not sufficient,” Angermayer said. “I don’t want to say they don’t work at all because some people are helped by them, but they’re not sufficient.”

Research into psychedelic therapies is an expanding field that seeks to offer alternative treatments, for instance, to the more than 50 percent of patients receiving therapy for major depressive disorder (MDD) who do not respond to approved depression medications.

The move by Atai follows a recent announcement from Compass that its psilocybin treatment called COMP360 demonstrated a “statistically significant and clinically relevant reduction in depressive symptom severity after three weeks.”

Results were from the largest randomized, controlled, double-blind psilocybin therapy study ever conducted. It included 233 patients from 10 countries in North America and Europe, 94 percent of whom had no prior experience with psilocybin. The objective of the trial was to find the appropriate effective dose for a larger phase III trial expected for 2022. The study showed that at least twice the number of patients in the 25mg group showed response and remission at week 3 and week 12, compared with the 1mg group.

While forging ahead with notable clinical studies, Compass Pathways is not without controversy.

In 2020, Compass faced criticism over its position that psilocybin therapy should only be approved by medical regulators such as the FDA, not by legislators — a position meant to support and protect the company's methods, which it hopes will be adopted as the key regulatory framework for the legalization of psilocybin therapy.

Compass came under fire by the likes of psychedelic advocate David Bronner, the "Cosmic Engagement Officer" of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, during the passing of Measure 109 in Oregon, which made psilocybin mushrooms legal for therapeutic use in the state. Advocates there argued for psilocybin to be available to all people in need, not strictly to those who will access care in clinical settings regulated by the federal government.

“Monopolistic behavior that attempts to block other entities from bringing medicines to market, or even worse, shut down Oregon’s Measure 109 model and attempt to lock up psychedelic therapy inside the FDA medical pharma model for narrow qualifying diagnoses only, is harmful to the healing we as a movement want to bring to the world,” said Bronner.

Following passage of the measure, Oregon is now in the process of creating an intricate statewide system for qualified caregivers to deliver psilocybin therapy in therapeutic settings.

While dual tracks of state and federal approaches to the legalization of psychedelic therapies may present conflict moving forward, popular acceptance over previously taboo psychedelic therapies and the expanded access they hopefully will provide people, are certainly worth noting.

“No one is untouched by the mental health crisis – everyone has a story,” George Goldsmith, CEO and co-founder of COMPASS Pathways said in a release. “ We urgently need options for people who are not helped by existing therapies. We set out to explore the safety and efficacy of COMP360 psilocybin therapy in treatment-resistant depression, through a rigorous and large-scale trial, and to find an appropriate dose to take to the next stage. I am delighted that we have succeeded in doing this.”