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An Introduction

The psychedelic compound-based drug market is expected to triple over the next few years and, while that is not a large market in absolute terms, that growth potential should create many winning stocks in the years to come. Psychedelic compounds have potential efficacy in treating resistant depression, panic disorders, opiate addiction and other mental health disorders.

Shares of clinical-stage companies developing treatments based on psychedelic compound-based drugs moved lower on Monday. August 9th, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected the use of MDMA (5-MeO-DMT or 5-MethOxy-N,N-DiMeThyltryptamine) for post-traumatic stress disorder (Source) as submitted by a private company, Lycos Therapeutics.

The above being said, however, many of the concerns raised by the FDA advisers were specific to the Lykos therapy and its clinical trials but the FDA noted at the time that it was still supportive of psychedelic development as psychedelic drugs showed initial promise as potential treatments for mood, anxiety and substance use disorders but that designing clinical trials to assess a drugs’ safety and effectiveness presented a number of unique challenges that had not been met.

The munKNEE Psychedelic Compound -Based Clinical-Stage Drug Stocks Portfolio

Opportunities to invest in psychedelic stocks are emerging for those willing to get in early and the 4 largest psychedelic compound-based portfolio drug discovery companies are down 15.7% MTD but have rebound by 5.9% in the past week. This article highlights their performances as of this past Friday, August, 23rd, in descending order, and MTD,  their areas of focus, and commentary where available.

1. GH Research (GHRS): up 14.8% last week; down 7.4% MTD
   • engages in developing various therapies (see pipeline here) to treat psychiatric and neurological disorders and focuses on the development of mebufotenin therapies, the new International non-proprietary name for DMT, for the treatment of patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). The company’s phase 2b trial for a mebufotenin inhalant has been very successful and is expected to end in the second half of this year and DMT is also being tested in a phase 2a trial for the treatment of postpartum depression (see details here).
2. atai Life Sciences (ATAI): up 7.4% last week; down 15.5% MTD
   • Develops and invests in various therapeutics to treat depression, anxiety, addiction, and other mental health disorders and has announced positive preliminary results from the Phase 1b trial of VLS-01, its proprietary oral transmucosal film formulation of mebufotenin that is applied to the buccal surface and to initiate a Phase 2 study for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression. It has also announced plans to initiate a Phase 2 study (EMP-01) of an oral DMT for the treatment of social anxiety disorder by the end of FY'24
3. Compass Pathways (CMPS): up 3.0% last week; down 5.8% MTD
   • CMPS is in the process of developing COMP360, a psilocybin therapy that is in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression and in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and anorexia nervosa. 
4. Mind Medicine (MNMD): down 5.3% last week; down 35.0% MTD
   • MNMD lead product candidates include MM-120, which is in phase 2 for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and MM-402, a R-enantiomer of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, which is in phase I clinical trials for the treatment of core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder.

Summary

On average, the above 4 stocks were up 5.9% week-ending August 23rd but remain down 15.7% MTD.

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