Psyched: Field Trip Uplists To Nasdaq, MindMed To Study DMT, Atai Launches New Subsidiary, AOC's Psychedelics Amendment Rejected

Last week in Psychedelics:

1. Field Trip Begins Trading On The Nasdaq
2. MindMed Launches Phase 1 Trials On DMT
3. Atai Launches New "Nose-To-Brain" Drug Delivery Company 
4. Braxia Scientific Receives Funding From Canadian Government To Study Ketamine Therapy
5. AOC's Amendment To Allow Federal Research Into Benefits Of Psychedelics Rejected By House Again
6. Australia Launches Psychedelics Research Institute With $29 Million In Funding From Undisclosed North American Company
7. Entheon Biomedical Corp. Closes Acquisition Of Lobo Genetics
8. The Milestone Round

Field Trip Begins Trading On The Nasdaq

Field Trip Health FTRP FTRP made its Nasdaq debut on Thursday, becoming the fifth company in the psychedelics space to receive a welcome by Wall Street this year.

The company's shares were listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, which is considered the highest-ranking tier in the exchange. 

Field Trip's shares dropped from $6.22 at market open to $5.55 by noon Thursday. Prices slowly picked up during the afternoon and again on Friday, closing the week at $6.50. 

“Listing on the leading securities exchange for biotech companies will enable more investors both in the U.S. and globally to support Field Trip as we advance our ground-breaking work in the psychedelics industry,” Dr. Ryan Yermus, Field Trip’s chief clinical officer said.

MindMed Launches Phase 1 Trials On DMT

Nasdaq-listed Mind Medicine (MindMed) MNMD MMED is looking into the effects of the potent psychedelic compound N, N-dimethyltryptamine, better known as DMT, in patients.

DMT, an active ingredient in ayahuasca, is the center of MindMed's new clinical research study, which is investigating its safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. The biotech company announced the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical trial on Wednesday.

MindMed said it intends to study an intravenous administration method throughout its Phase 1 clinical trial, which obtained all necessary regulatory approvals in Switzerland. The trial is part of the company's collaboration with the University Hospital Basel Liechti Lab and is being conducted by Dr. Matthias Liechti. The study will include 30 subjects "in a randomized 5-period crossover, double-blind, placebo-controlled design."

"Currently no study has validly determined the elimination half-life of DMT or other pharmacokinetic parameters, and our study will provide valuable information for future research on DMT as a tool to examine alterations of the mind," said Dr. Miri Halperin Wernli, executive president of MindMed.

Atai Launches New "Nose-To-Brain" Drug Delivery Company 

Atai Life Sciences ATAI is launching a new company that will interact with its portfolio of psychedelics and tech start-ups looking at novel mental health treatments.

InnarisBio Inc. is being launched as a collaboration between Atai and UniQuest, a company managing and commercializing intellectual property developed by the University of Queensland in Australia.

InnarisBio’s mission is to perfect intranasal drug delivery technology to improve treatments for mental health disorders. Its “sol-gel intranasal drug delivery platform technology” was developed in the laboratory of researcher Dr. Harendra Parekh at the University of Queensland.

The “nose-to-brain” technology delivers pharmaceutical compounds as a liquid at room temperature which becomes a gel at body temperature.

Florian Brand, CEO and co-founder of Atai said the newly-formed company has the potential to be superior to other intranasal drug delivery methods available by improving uptake through mucoadhesion in the nose, thus reducing dose administered and dosing frequency. 

Atai plans to explore the potential use of this technology for a variety of psychedelic and non-psychedelic compounds under its development.

Braxia Scientific Receives Funding From Canadian Government To Study Ketamine Therapy

Braxia Scientific Corp BRAX BRAXF, announced that CEO Dr. Roger McIntyre and chief medical and scientific officer Dr. Josh Rosenblat have received funding of CA$918.000 (approximately $732.000) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

The grant will be used for a clinical trial that will assess the effectiveness of intravenous ketamine in combination with Internet-based cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of suicidality in persons with depression.

The trial will be held at one of Braxia’s clinics in Mississauga, Ontario, operated by the Canadian Rapid Treatment Centre of Excellence, a subsidiary of the company.

AOC's Amendment To Allow Federal Research Into Benefits Of Psychedelics Rejected By House Again

The U.S. House of Representatives voted down an amendment Tuesday filed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that sought to remove constraints to researching the therapeutic potential of psychedelic mushrooms, MDMA, psilocybin and ibogaine.

The amendment was rejected in a 140-285 vote, reported Marijuana Moment. 

While results were far from ideal for psychedelic therapy supporters, they show an improvement from a previous attempt to introduce the same measure in 2019, which got rejected in a 91-331 vote. 

Ocasio-Cortez’s measure was presented as an amendment to a wider spending bill that manages fund allocation for several federal agencies. The amendment was intended to remove the rider on this spending bill from 1996 that forbids the allocation of federal funds to “any activity that promotes the legalization of any drug or other substance in Schedule I.” 

Australia Launches Psychedelics Research Institute With $29 Million In Funding From Undisclosed North American Company

A new research institute called the Psychae Institute was announced on Friday and will focus on clinical trials into psilocybin, DMT and MDMA, among others in Australia.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the Melbourne-headquartered institute is starting

its work with initial funding of AU$40 million ($29.3 million) from an undisclosed North American biotech company, to be delivered over five years. The Psychae Institute expects to receive more funding from philanthropic donations, private investment and government funding.

The unnamed company expressed an intention to remain anonymous as part of its strategy to secure private investment.

The institute will also oversee clinical studies in the UK, Canada, Europe and Brazil and plans to launch its own clinical research in early 2022.

Entheon Biomedical Corp. Closes Acquisition Of Lobo Genetics

Entheon Biomedical Corp. ENBI ENTBF acquired Lobo Genetics Inc., a Canadian personalized genetics company with a psychedelics and cannabis-focused direct-to-consumer platform, in an all-stock deal.

Under the deal, Lobo will continue to operate under the name "Lobo Genetics Inc." as Entheon's subsidiary.

Vancouver-based Entheon agreed to issue 5 million of its common shares to Lobo's former shareholders, as per the deal.

Entheon and Lobo will continue researching a genetic-driven approach to developing personalized psychedelic-assisted psychotherapeutic (PAP) protocols to treat substance use disorders, said Timothy Ko, Entheon's CEO.

The Milestone Round

After announcing conditional approval to become the first psychedelics company on the NYSE, Cybin Inc. CYBN CLXPF announced final approval to begin the listing of its stock on August 5.

Awakn Life Sciences AWKN AWKNF began trading last Monday in the U.S. OTC markets under the symbol “AWKNF.”

“This additional capital markets exposure offers us greater visibility within the investment community in the U.S., which should enhance our liquidity and increase our access to institutional and retail investors,” CEO Anthony Tennyson said.

Novamind Inc. NM NVMDF has completed the construction of a new psychiatry clinic in Utah, with a focus on ketamine-assisted therapy and other alternative mental health treatments. The company expects to open four new locations in Utah by September 2021.

Havn Life Sciences Inc. HAVN HAVLF announced a new agreement with P.A. Benjamin Manufacturing Company, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company based in Kingston, Jamaica. The company expects to develop GMP manufacturing of psilocybin and obtain permissions for export into Canada, the US and Europe.