6 Psychedelics Companies Take Action: Here Are The Latest, Major Announcements

Second week of 2023, and business is up and running. Let’s take a look at the announcements shared by some of the companies in the psychedelics space.

Jaguar Health and Filament Health Form JV

Jaguar Health Inc. JAGX and Filament Health Corp. FLHLF, together with Will Peterfly’s One Small Planet LLC, have created a U.S.-based joint venture focused on novel, plant-based prescription medicines.

The new business, dubbed Magdalena Biosciences Inc., is currently valued at $5 million and will receive tranch funding of $1 million by One Small Planet, to be paid in quarterly quotas throughout 2023 if certain milestones are met.

Named after a river holding great cultural significance to Indigenous peoples in Colombia, Magdalena Biosciences will be focusing on extending both psychedelics companies' botanical drug development capabilities towards developing clinical-grade, standardized drug candidates for mental health disorders, as well as to partner with a potential future licensee to develop and commercialize the novel medicines.

Jaguar president and CEO Lisa Conte believes that the new venture will allow for the mobilization of the firm’s 30-year-old library of 2,300 highly characterized medicinal plants and 3,500 plant extracts out of its ethnobotanical investigation “bridging the knowledge of traditional healers and Western medicine.” 

Conte further stated that newly-formed Magdalena holds an exclusive license to plants and plant extracts in Jaguar's library for specific indications and is now identifying plant candidates within that may prove beneficial for addressing indications such as ADHD."

Irwin Naturals and Braxia Scientific Partner For Clinical Studies

Health companies Irwin Naturals Inc. IWINF and Braxia Scientific Corp. BRAXF are set to co-launch clinical research services.

The partnership will take Braxia’s expertise in innovative mental health treatments and current clinical research capabilities to 12 of the Irwin’s Emergence clinics based in five U.S. states.

Irwin plans to invest up to $2 million over the next 12 months, initially launching research services in five Florida clinics.

More specifically, the companies expect to create a leading mental health-focused clinical research platform designed to streamline and accelerate the process of clinical development of new therapies, including seamless patient recruitment through the FDA application. 

Furthermore, the alliance will support multiple pharmaceutical sponsors, innovative biotech and medical device companies, and government and non-governmental institutions seeking to carry out the development of new therapies for mental health in the U.S.

“We are conducting a number of ongoing clinical trials and are currently receiving requests from various pharmaceutical sponsors to support international programs to develop novel therapies in mental health," Braxia CEO Roger McIntyre said. 

Psyence Subsidiary Inks Deal To Create New Psychedelics Company

Life sciences biotech company Psyence Group Inc. PSYGF is merging its Psyence Biomed subsidiary with Newcourt Corp NCAC, a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company).

The deal is expected to be finalized in the first half of 2023. The new public company would be capitalized with a minimum of $20 million and have access to Newcourt’s shareholders, promoters and advisors.

Psyence Group would have board control of the combined company, while still owning and operating its other divisions, namely Psyence Production and Psyence Function.

The new company’s resources will be utilized to advance Psyence’s natural psilocybin PEX010 into a Phase 2b trial to be conducted in Australia by contract research organization iNGENū CRO Pty Ltd.

“Our Phase 2b clinical study of natural psilocybin (PEX010) for treating adjustment disorder in patients who have incurable cancer will be the first trial of its kind to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a natural psilocybin in this indication,” stated Psyence CEO Neil Maresky.

Newcourt CEO Marc Balkin praised the deal and called the FDA’s designation of psilocybin as a breakthrough therapy "extremely encouraging."

Upon the closing of the deal, Psyence Biomed would receive a minimum of $20 million of cash held in trust, reflecting a pre-money equity value of $50 million and seeking to secure additional financing via a private placement.

FSD Pharma Incorporates New Australian Subsidiary

Biopharma company FSD Pharma Inc. HUGE has announced that it will add a new subsidiary in order to capitalize on drug development incentives in Australia, “a hotbed” for clinical-stage biotech companies according to the company’s president Zeeshan Saeed.

FSD Pharma recently established Lucid Psycheceuticals to facilitate the development of one molecular compound for the potential treatment of mental health disorders and another for the potential treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, among other assets.

“We continue to innovate, addressing some of the most challenging and acute needs in medicine today. Our current programs in Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, and mental health, and exploratory programs will benefit tremendously from the collective expertise of our accomplished advisors,” said Lucid CEO Lakshmi Kotra.

Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by Zita and canadastock on Shutterstock.