Tomorrow, Thursday, 17 November, industry leaders will meet in London for Emerging Innovations in Psychedelic Healthcare, to evaluate milestones in the commercialisation of psychedelic medicine.
The invite-only event, taking place at Sea Containers in South Bank, coincides with the release of The Psychedelics as Medicine Report: Fourth Edition.
The industry’s leading data and insights publication features contributions from researchers, regulators, lawyers and politicians, with thought leaders analysing the sector’s socioeconomic potential.
To open the programming at tomorrow’s event, Psych Capital’s CEO William Potts will highlight the report’s key findings and summarise the industry’s investment landscape.
Significant inflection points are expected in the next 24 months, with both MDMA and psilocybin-assisted therapy set to be regulated by the FDA. The introduction of both medicines is forecast to create a psychedelic healthcare market worth over £3 billion.
For psychedelic healthcare to realise its potential, drug developers need to identify and establish the patient journey, collaborating with regulators, healthcare providers and payers to maximise the treatment’s adoption.
To analyse the socioeconomic potential of psychedelic medicine, Cybin’s CEO Doug Drysdale will be joined by Awakn Life Sciences’ CEO Anthony Tennyson and Small Pharma’s CEO George Tziras.
Speaking with PSYCH
ahead of the occasion, Tziras said: ‘There are a number of additional considerations that need to be thought about for the roll-out and we’ve already initiated market research, so we have insight into the positions of patients, physicians and, importantly, payers.
‘As we progress into the later stages of clinical trials, it will help further establish realistic expectations of the anticipated treatment journey. Additional services may need to be set up to offer better support to patients.’
To promote the roll-out of psychedelic medicines, companies will also need to mitigate potential bottlenecks to treatment accessibility and facilitate their integration into existing healthcare frameworks.
At Emerging Innovations in Psychedelic Healthcare, Cybin’s CEO Doug Drysdale will discuss the organisation’s therapist training programme and M&A strategy with Catherine Schuster-Bruce of Business Insider.
‘We are currently looking at 50 or 60 molecules, from which we are selecting the ones we believe have the greatest potential,’ Drysdale told PSYCH.
‘We want to be able to offer healthcare providers a range of different psychedelic medicines… By providing a range of options for providers, it gives them the opportunity to match the best treatment to each particular patient.
‘Accessibility is really the core of everything we’re trying to do. Part of the challenge in converting these classical psychedelic molecules into prescribable therapeutics is to overcome some of those limitations that impact accessibility.
There is room to continue to improve and optimise the treatment as we get closer to market, to minimise the burden on the healthcare system and make these treatments as accessible as possible.’
The latter stages of drug development are typically the most resource intensive, with Phase III trials conducted on a larger scale than previous studies and often across multiple jurisdictions.
However, rising inflation and a looming global recession have made it difficult for companies to attract investment, with the economy instigating an industry shakeout and market consolidation.
To explore the emerging commercial opportunities, Vadim Uzberg, Partner at Negev Capital, will take questions from Stephanie Price, Editor at Psychedelic Health.
‘Psychedelic medicine has reached a critical inflection point,’ recognised Uzberg. ‘The science supports transdiagnostic efficacy in psychiatric conditions; next-generation molecules offer improvements in delivery, safety, efficacy and scalability.
‘Valuations have dropped to more reasonable levels and big pharma is getting more comfortable with this sector. We expect positive clinical trials results in 2023, and likely some industry consolidation. Overall, we remain excited and optimistic.’
Although share prices have fallen across the board, this positivity was reverberated by Cybin’s CEO, who will speak about market consolidation at tomorrow’s eagerly anticipated event.
‘When I look at what is happening across the biotech space, it is all macro driven… In these uncertain times, people cycle out of more speculative stocks, like psychedelics,’ said Drysdale. ‘This creates an opportunity. Fundamentally, nothing has changed about the sector.’
To register your interest to attend the invite-only event, please visit the website or contact grace@psych.global.
