MindMed Names Robert Barrow As CEO & Director, Announces Management Shake-Ups

Psychedelic-focused biotech company Mind Medicine Inc. MNMD MMED MMQ announced Tuesday that Robert Barrow has been appointed CEO and member of the board of directors.

Barrow, an accomplished pharmaceutical executive and a recognized leader in the psychedelic industry, is bringing over a decade of experience leading organizations and drug development programs to the New York-based company.

Previously Barrow held the role of interim CEO and chief development officer of MindMed and the head of drug development and discovery at Usona Institute and CEO and director of Olatec Therapeutics.

Barrow holds an M.S. in Pharmacology from The Ohio State University and a B.S. from Wake Forest University, where he graduated summa cum laude. He honed his skills while working as a technical and strategic advisor to numerous large and small pharmaceutical companies.

"I am delighted to join MindMed's Board of Directors and look forward to building on the progress to date alongside our outstanding executive leadership team, all while advancing the Company into the future," Barrow said.

MindMed also revealed that Perry Dellelce will step down from his role as director and chairman of the board of directors.

Carol Vallone agreed to assume the role of the board's chair, while Andreas Krebs opted to serve as vice-chair, the company reports.

Vallone, who is an esteemed executive and corporate board director with a strong track record in launching, scaling and selling global companies, thanked Dellelce for playing a "pivotal role" in the Company's evolution to become a leader in the psychedelic sector.

"We are thrilled to name Rob as our permanent CEO, whose strategic agility, strong leadership, and impressive track record makes him exceptionally well qualified," Krebs added.

Currently, Vallone serves as the board's director, chair of the compensation committee, and member of the audit/finance committee at MindMed. In addition, she is also a board member at Cresco Labs CL CRLBF and Bain Capital Double Impact portfolio company, Arosa.

Andreas Krebs is an internationally experienced executive, entrepreneur and best-selling author. He heads the family-owned investment company Longfield Invest.

FDA Willing To Back Development Of MindMed's Session Monitoring System

In the meantime, management shake-ups come on the heels of a meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) in consultation with the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) which was held to discuss several key points for ongoing development of the MindMed Session Monitoring System.

On a device pre-submission meeting, the company laid out more details regarding the real-time monitoring system that assists in assessing a patient's physiological and behavioral state during a psychedelic-assisted therapeutic session.

"The FDA is supportive of our plans to develop regulated devices that would allow the use of novel analyses of multimodal data to capture, model, and map outputs that, if cleared, could be useful to clinicians and patients in the delivery of psychedelic and other perception-altering substances." Daniel R Karlin, MD MA, CMO of MindMed said last week.

MNMD Price Action

MindMed's shares traded 0.57% lower at $1.73 per share during the pre-market session on Tuesday morning.

Photo: Courtesy of Ben Rosett on Unsplash