Negev Capital celebrates psychedelic medicine milestones across globe
It says three of its companies have recently made groundbreaking achievements including Beckley Psytech, Filament Health, and MindBio Therapeutics.
With this side of the industry developing rapidly and many claiming 2024 could be a watershed year for the sector, this pipeline of advanced clinical milestones and regulatory approvals in major markets including the US.
“We expect to see material shifts in valuations for companies developing psychedelic-based treatments.
“These milestones represent significant progress in the development of innovative treatments for mental health and substance use disorders.”
Ken Belotsky, partner at Negev Capital, said: “We remain dedicated to supporting and investing in the future of psychedelic medicine and see 2024 as a watershed year for the sector.
“These recent achievements of just some of our portfolio companies underscore the immense potential of psychedelics-based compounds to revolutionize the treatment of a wide range of mental health conditions, substance use disorders, and other illnesses.’’
In January, UK-based Beckley Psytech, a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to improving the lives of people suffering from neuropsychiatric disorders by transforming psychedelics into effective and rapid-acting clinical medicines, secured a pivotal $50m investment from atai Life Sciences.
This funding is set to speed-up the development of Beckley’s patent-protected, short-acting psychedelic assets through phase 2 trials. The company anticipates multiple clinical readouts this year, including a phase 2a readout for alcohol use disorder in mid-2024 and a phase 2b readout of BPL-003 (intranasal5-MeO-DMT) for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) in the second half of 2024.
Dr Rob Conley, chief scientific officer at Beckley Psytech, said: “We are looking forward to exploring the potential therapeutic effects of BPL-003 for patients living with TRD. Around one-third of all people living with depression are resistant to currently available antidepressants and there is an urgent need for more effective treatments.
“We are proud to be leading the way in developing alternative therapies that are safe, effective and practical and we hope to have more to share soon.”
Canada’s Filament Health, a clinical-stage natural psychedelic drug development company, said in January that the FDA has accepted its investigational new drug application (IND) for PEX010, a botanical psilocybin drug candidate aimed at treating substance use disorders (SUD). This acceptance marks a significant step forward, with PEX010 currently under investigation as a treatment for opioid use disorder in Canada. Filament Health has committed to furthering this progress within the US.
MindBio Therapeutics has revealed positive results in February from micro-dosing a form of LSD. The results came from a phase 2a take-home trial of MB22001, an established titratable form of the hallucinogenic – this was a world first. The study showed rapid and statistically significant improvements in depressive symptoms with a 60% reduction observed and 53% of patients achieving complete remission from depression.
Importantly, MB22001 was safe and well-tolerated, with no treatment-related severe or serious adverse events reported.
Negev Capital is in the psychedelics-based medical R&D space and led by recognized neuroscientists, psychiatrists, financial executives, and successful founders who represent an interesting combination of scientific and business acumen to inform their investments in companies driving the future of medicines based on psychedelic molecules. Negev’s successful first fund of $31 million is fully invested across 27 companies.
In 2022 the VC launched Negev Labs, the only company-builder in neuroplastogens next-generation chemical entities, with similar clinical efficacy, therapeutic scalability, and intellectual property value as psychedelics, but without the hallucinogenic effects.
Negev Labs uses AI to help accelerate the discovery of new treatments based on neuroplastogens to treat a wide range of diseases.
