TM Editors' note: This article discusses a penny stock and/or microcap. Such stocks are easily manipulated; do your own careful due diligence.

Back in March 2021, I wrote an article for TalkMarkets on SciSparc Ltd. (SPRC), a specialty, clinical-stage pharmaceutical company headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel reporting that SciSparc was well-positioned for success in developing and commercializing treatments of central nervous system diseases (read detailed description of each disease here) for:

• agitation in autism spectrum disorder and epilepsy, based on Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA):
• Tourette syndrome, obstructive sleep apnea, and Alzheimer’s disease;
• and the treatment of status epilepticus
• and that it was commencing commercialization of a proprietary palmitoylethanolamide oral tablet formulation, called CannAmide, for use as an anti-inflammatory to help relieve chronic pain.

SciSparc went public on September 1st, 2021 with the IPO of $4.50/share and then jumped 69% to peak at $7.62 on November 5th, 2021.

SciSparc immediately began rebranding itself by:

• changing its name from Therapix Biosciences Ltd. to SciSparc Ltd.,
• creating a new logo (see above),
• beginning to trade under its new symbol, SPRCY, (now SPRC),
• obtaining a new CUSIP number,
• and developing a new website.

1. On March 8th, 2022, SciSparc announced that:
   • it had formalized an collaboration with Clearmind Medicine (OTCPK: CMNDF) to explore the development of psychedelic-based therapies.
   • By March 8th, 2022 the stock price had declined 49.5% to $3.85.
2. On May 26th, 2022, SciSparc announced that:
   • it had received Ethics Committee approvals to conduct a phase 2b trial of SCI-110 to treat patients with Tourette's Syndrome.
   • By May 25th the stock had fallen 39% to $2.36 before rebounding 41% to $3.33 on the positive news.
3. On May 27th, 2022, SciSparc announced that:
   • it had entered into a securities purchase agreement with a single healthcare-focused institutional investor to purchase 3,546,100 units at $2.82 per unit for aggregate gross proceeds of ~$10M.
   • The stock declined 8% to $3.07 on the announcement.
4. On June 2nd, 2022, SciSparc announced that:
   • it had filed a provisional patent application along with partner Clearmind Medicine for its proprietary combination of SciSparc's CannAmide with Clearmind's novel psychedelic molecule, MEAI to treat cocaine addiction.
   • The stock was unchanged at $3.07 on the announcement.
5. On June 23rd, 2022, SciSparc announced that:
   • it had received approval to conduct the trial for SCI-210 in patients suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to test the effect of the company’s drug candidate SCI-210, combination of cannabidiol and CannAmide, versus CBD monotherapy, in treating ASD.
   • The stock had declined 37% to $1.93 by June 22nd.
6. On June 29th, 2022, SciSparc announced that:
   • it had completed the development of its drug candidate, SCI-110, for Phase IIb study to treat Tourette's Syndrome.
   • The stock rose to $2.22 by June 28th and then to $2.57 by July 5th on the news.
7. On July 8th, 2022, SciSparc announced that:
   • it had started the process of preparing for an investigational new drug application for its phase 2b trial evaluating its SCI-110 drug candidate for Tourette's Syndrome.
   • The stock price declined on the news, nevertheless, to $2.18 and then went into freefall (-67%) to $0.71 by September 6th.
8. On September 14th, 2022, SciSparc announced that:
   • it agreed, as part of a previous board of directors decision to search for strategic transactions in high growth, high potential markets, to purchase Wellution, a top-seller on Amazon.com Marketplace of hemp-based products including gummies, oil capsules and cosmetics believing that such a purchase would:
     • expand their access to manufacturing and distribution channels, which would facilitate its intention to market CannaMide^TM, their PEA- based food supplement,
     • provide value to their shareholders given that Wellution was a profitable top-seller brand with millions of dollars in annual sales  and
   • it had formed a new subsidiary, SciSparc Nutraceuticals Inc., to hold the new assets. 
   • By September 13th the stock price had risen to $0.78
9. On December 7th, 2022, SciSparc announced that:
   • it had received positive results from its study of a Palmitoylethanolamide/Cannabidiol (CBD) treatment for epilepsy indicating that the combined P/C treatment could potentially be more effective than a CBD monotherapy.
   • By December 2nd, the stock price had advanced to $1.14 but quickly retraced its movements tumbling 36% to $0.73 by December 29th as investor euphoria wore off.
10. On January 25th, 2023 SciSparc announced that it was pursuing a restructuring that involved:
    • transferring its pharmaceutical activities to a new wholly owned subsidiary named SciSparc Nutraceuticals,
    • examine the possibility of listing this new subsidiary on a leading stock exchange, while continuing to control its current activities and
    • exploring other potential new opportunities, activities and investments in a variety of sectors.
    • By January 24th the stock had bounced back to $0.95 but, even with the announcement its stock continued to decline to $0.91/share by February 16th.
11. On February 17th, 2023 SciSparc announced that:
    • its drug discovery joint venture with MitoCareX whose cloud-based computing infrastructure was expected to allow its future expansion into machine learning system aimed at investigating mitochondrial carriers that are crucial for cell viability, and that
    • it would be investing an additional $400K in MitoCareX to increase its share ownership to 41.92%.
    • The stock rose from $0.91 to $1.00 with the announcement.
12. On February 23rd, 2023 SciSparc announced that:
    • it was selling 49% of its subsidiary, SciSparc Nutraceuticals, to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jeffs' Brands (JFBR) for $2.5M in cash plus another $300,000 in inventory and working capital and that
    • it would be responsible for the development of a new food supplements product line and that Jeff Brands would be responsible for the sales and marketing of any new products taken to market.
    • With the announcement the stock still declined dropping to its current $0.76/share which represents an 83% decline from its IPO price of $4.50, a 90% from its peak of $7.62 in November of 2021 and a full 88% decline in 2022. To put things in perspective, that 88% decline compares unfavorably with the 70% decline of the 6 largest psychedelic clinical-stage stocks as tracked in the munKNEE Psychedelic Drug Stocks Index.

SciSparc's focus until recently has been exclusively in the product research and development of novel compounds. As such, it has no commercial products and no revenue, and requires a great deal of money to fund its R&D expenses. In addition, it has an extremely volatile stock that, at least in the past, went up and down based on investor sentiment related to the company's activities as outlined in the 12 news releases highlighted above.  With its restructuring plans it is venturing into other categories in an efforts to generate some revenue and shore up its stock price. That is what at least 6 psychedelic companies are doing by putting research and development of novel compounds on the side burner (i.e. not their primary focus) in favor of the development, expansion, and operation of ketamine-assisted therapy (KAT) clinics hoping to capitalize on the massive commercial opportunity that exists to treat the two billion people worldwide who suffer from chronic pain, addiction, substance abuse withdrawal, and depression.

The jury is out on how well SciSparc will do in executing its restructuring plan but I am of the opinion that the company has no other choice. They have  not been sufficiently successful as a primary clinical-stage research and development company so branching out into joint ventures, acquisitions and partnerships seems to be a plan that has some legs. It is going to be an interesting year for SciSparc!

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