Psyched: MindMed Launches DTx Division, ATAI Closes $125M Series C, Novamind Raises CA$10M

Novamind Raises CA$10M, Heads Towards CSE Listing

Toronto-based psychedelics company Novamind Ventures announced the closing of a private placement for CA$10 million ($7.6 million).

Last week, the company confirmed that it successfully inked a definitive amalgamation agreement with Hinterland Metals Inc., a public “shell” company from the mining sector. The reverse take-over will take Novamind into the Canadian stock market after the transaction has been completed. 

In July, Novamind acquired Cedar Psychiatry LLC, a clinic in Utah that specializes in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, and Cedar Clinical Research LLC, a research center focused on psychedelic medicine.

“We are building and operating the infrastructure (outpatient mental health clinics, retreats and clinical research sites) that is required to serve the regulated psychedelics industry, and will continue to expand organically and through acquisitions,” Novamind CEO Yaron Conforti told Benzinga.

Conforti stated that unlike most companies in this space, Novamind is not developing psychedelic molecules, but developing complementary evidence-based therapeutic protocols for psychedelic medicine. 

“These expertly-designed protocols enhance and optimize the effectiveness of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy," he added. "We plan to build expertise in these protocols and disseminate them across our clinic network and beyond."

In 2019, the company also invested in the Synthesis Institute, a legal psilocybin retreat in the Netherlands.

Novamind currently owns and operates 4 outpatient mental health clinics that have been generating revenue since 2016 -says Conforti- and don’t rely on the legalization of psychedelics.

The company plans to list on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol ‘NM’. An estimated go-public date has not yet been confirmed.

MindMed Launches DTx Division Financed Via Public Offering

MindMed MMED MMEDF has launched a new division focused on developing a digital therapeutics platform for psychedelic medicine.

“We are developing potential revenue strategies that will leverage digital health therapeutics and also partnerships with pharma companies through R&D reimbursement,” MindMed co-CEO JR Rahn told Benzinga.

The new digital therapeutics platform, dubbed "Albert" in honor of Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, will be used to enhance ongoing R&D on psychedelic molecules by measuring its results on patients with more accuracy.

Hofmann is known for being the first person to synthesize, ingest, and learn of the psychedelic effects of LSD.

“This new division will not only build apps, technologies and other platforms to help the patient, but hopefully also make the medical community comfortable with this novel treatment paradigm for mental health and addiction by measuring the potential value to their patient populations and ultimate savings to insurers," said Rahn.

The company stated that digital therapeutics have the potential to enable real-time assessment of the efficacy of a treatment, leading to a better understanding of its long-term impact on patients.

On Wednesday the company announced a bought deal public offering for CA$25 million ($19.2 million). Canaccord Genuity Corp. led the deal, which is meant to finance the Digital Therapeutics platform, among other expenses.

Units from the offering, composed of one subordinate voting share and half of a subordinate voting share purchase warrant, will be offered by way of a short form prospectus. The company said that the offering is expected to close on Dec. 15.

Around 13 million units will go out at a price of CA$1.90. MMED stock closed at CA$2.07 on Wednesday.

This Week’s Milestone Round

ATAI Life Sciences, an umbrella biotech company with a portfolio of diverse psychedelics and non-psychedelics companies, announced on Monday the closing of a series C financing round for $125 million.

The company will use these proceeds to fund pre-clinical and clinical development of its existing mental health programs and expand its drug candidate pipelines. 

With the raise, ATAI expects to advance its research on arketamine for treatment resistant depression from portfolio company Perception Neuroscience, as well as ibogaine in opioid use disorder from DemeRx.

Havn Life Sciences HAVN announced a new raise of CA$5.46 million ($4.20 million) after the closing of a warrant exercise for approximately 10 million common share purchase warrants that had been issued under a private placement in June of this year.