EXCLUSIVE: Infrastructure Built For Healing: 'Consolidation And Legitimacy Are Crucial For Psychedelic Industry Growth'

“Investing in real estate can help expand experiential medicines like ketamine and MDMA for treating PTSD and build infrastructure for upcoming FDA-approved therapies,” said Daniel Carcillo, founder and CEO at Wesana Health Holdings Inc WSNAF at Benzinga Psychedelics Capital Conference Thursday (April 13) in Miami Beach, Florida.

Real Estate Investment: Challenges

According to Cody Shandraw, managing partner at Ambria Capital, "the two main issues in the infrastructure space are the need for cash for expansion and the challenge of identifying the right locations for clinics."

Shandraw believed some ketamine companies have failed due to poor market understanding, rapid expansion and entering highly competitive markets. To avoid these issues, he suggested using data to identify suitable locations close to existing infrastructure.

Ty Zakovich, founder and CEO at Healing CREI, stated the company is buying real estate buildings and providing ready-to-use facilities to help ketamine companies expand their clinics without worrying about challenges caused by the tough real estate market. According to him, this enables the companies to focus on their practice and growth.

The Importance Of Data

Recently, Healing CREI entered into an exclusive partnership agreement with HealingMaps, a company that uses exclusive data to help clinicians identify opportunity zones and specific states for expansion.

HealingMaps has developed a geospatial tool to map out every single clinic in the U.S. and can help identify pockets of clinics based on proximity to hospitals or other facilities.

“The database is dynamic and provides cool features like identifying zip codes that have multiple VA facilities within a 15-minute drive but no other facilities, resulting in a pinpoint list of potential locations,” said Cory Jones, founder and CEO of HealingMaps.

In addition, Healing CREI recently announced a partnership with Numinus Wellness Inc NUMIF to help expand its clinical footprint in the experiential medicine space. Also, the company will use data from Healing Maps to identify the best locations for clinics, such as areas close to VA clinics where there are no ketamine centers.

“The use of data to determine optimal clinic locations can help remove logistical complexities and enable doctors to focus on treating patients,” said Shandraw.

The potential market for MDMA as a treatment for PTSD was also discussed: There are "eight million people who suffer from PTSD so think about how big the market's going to be for MDMA," Shandraw said.

“A million veterans in the United States have PTSD and that's why HealingMaps did all its clinical trials out at the VA facilities,” Zakovich added.

Creating Opportunities In Healing Commercial Real Estate Market

The criteria for qualifying a tenant "is based on their financials and their potential for success," said Zakovich.

"Our focus is not limited to just the psychedelic space but also includes other areas such as service and chiropractic centers, aiming to provide ancillary services such as physical therapy centers with massage therapy and hot tubs," noted Shandraw.

Ambria Capital intends to buy real estate in Oregon and Colorado, which will be available for practitioners under ballot measure 109 (OR) and Preposition 122 (CO).

Although the psychedelic industry is still in its early stages, "the healing commercial real estate investment aims to help those suffering from mental illness through safe and effective means. The long-term goal is to break down stigmatization and educate people on the benefits of these treatments," pointed out Zakovich.

Shandraw concluded by saying that “consolidation across a range of these industries and obviously adding legitimacy to not only the drug development side but also the clinical side is going to be important.”

Photo: Kelsey Wilkerson for Benzinga Psychedelics Capital Conference