EXCLUSIVE: Daniel Carcillo Explains How Wesana Health Is Using Psychedelics To Treat Traumatic Brain Injury

Daniel Carcillo is co-founder and CEO of Wesana Health WSNAF, a data-driven life sciences company pioneering clinical therapies and drug development through the FDA pathway. A former NHL star, Carcillo won two Stanley Cups before retiring at the age of 30 due to Post-Concussion Syndrome after seven concussions.

After trying different clinical concussion treatments for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), a sudden injury that causes damage to the brain, headaches, anxiety, slurred speech, impulse control issues, memory issues, insomnia and suicidal thoughts, Carcillo turned to psilocybin in combination with CBD, evidence-based therapies and the assistance of a biochemist.

After six months into treatment, his doctors confirmed that his brain presented no abnormalities. “I founded this company out of a personal journey, I founded Wesana to help people transcend barriers to mental health and performance,” Carcillo told the crowd at Benzinga Psychedelic Capital Conference.
Carcillo explained that Wesana is currently working on two main business areas, “Care Development” and “Care Delivery” to uncover new indications for psychedelics, validate protocols, further personalize treatments as well as collect and integrate data.

Wesana has two provisional patents for TBI-related symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, and non-TBI symptoms such as migraine. The depression market alone will represent a $14.7 billion market in 2025 (CAGR of 3%). Furthermore, Wesana estimates showed the anxiety market is projected to be $7.4 billion, while migraine will accumulate $7.8 billion.

Psilocybin and CBD For TBI Symptoms And Migraine

Wesana's top priority is the development of a therapy combining molecules with demonstrated effectiveness to treat TBI-associated symptoms and migraine.

Wesana is exploring the combination of psilocybin and cannabidiol (CBD), to increase neurogenesis and neuroplasticity and reduce brain damage and inflammation associated with neurodegenerative or ischemic conditions. Scientists at Wesana are looking into “waking up different hemispheres of the brain that could be shut down due to either physical or emotional trauma,” increasing brain connectivity and protection.

In order to obtain a patent for its drug SANA-013, Wesana is conducting a Development Strategy that involves combination therapies, protocol innovation, a potential MAPS partnership, and leveraging third-party labs to ensure results. SANA-013 is meant to treat TBI-associated anxiety and migraine. Carcillo said he expects the company to start with pre-clinical trials of SANA-013 in the third quarter of 2022, and receive approval for an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) from the FDA by the last quarter of the year to move on to a Phase 1B/2A study.

Photo by Dez Smith