- Market News

MindMed becomes world's first psychedelic pharma company to go public

3 Mar 2020

The company’s immediate priority is to address the opioid crisis by developing a non-hallucinogenic version of the psychedelic ibogaine.

NEO has granted final approval to Mind Medicine (MindMed) a neuro-pharmaceutical company for psychedelic-inspired medicines, to make its global public markets debut.

MindMed will begin trading today on the NEO Exchange under the symbol NEO:MMED, and is expected to become the world’s first publicly traded psychedelic pharmaceutical company.

The company develops medicines derived from psychedelics to address significant unmet medical needs. It is initially targeting a solution to address the opioid crisis and other forms of addiction.

Currently, MindMed is preparing 18-MC, its lead development drug development program, for a Phase II clinical trial, planned to begin in the fourth quarter. 18-MC is a non-hallucinogenic drug candidate, based on the psychedelic substance ibogaine, which in extensive preclinical research has shown promise for helping to curb addictions.

In addition, the company has established a psychedelics microdosing division. Going public will allow MindMed to continue developing clinical trials and to access additional institutional capital to further build its pipeline of clinical trials for psychedelic-inspired medicines.

MindMed Co-Founder and Co-CEO JR Rahn, said that psychedelic medicines present an "opportunity to address large societal problems, such as the opioid crisis, and a public listing of MindMed could help accelerate the path to a cure”.

One early MindMed investor and advisor describes psychedelics as being "under-researched and stigmatized by society".

“Today, MindMed sits at the tipping point of doing things differently by realizing the untapped potential of psychedelics-derived medicine to find treatments to neurological disorders,” commented Jos Schmitt, President and CEO of NEO.

The United States National Institute on Drug Abuse previously awarded a $6.8m USD grant to advance the project to the point of clinical testing. MindMed is also preparing to conduct a Phase II LSD microdosing clinical trial for adult ADHD, expected to begin later this year.