Psychedelic Business Spotlight – May 6

Wesana Health May Sell Clinics to Focus Solely on Drug Development

Leading this week’s psychedelic business news, Wesana Health (CSE: WESA; OTCQB: WSNAF) announced a strategic review of Wesana’s care delivery division “including, but not limited to, a sale of all the assets” under that umbrella which includes two Chicago clinics, its Wesana Solutions platform, and PsyTech Connect. “Over the past year, we have grown two distinct divisions reflecting our novel paradigm of care development and care delivery,” said founder and CEO Daniel Carcillo. “This approach served the Company well and allowed us to bring leading edge therapies to individuals in need of care while driving forward a sophisticated drug development program. As we plan for our next milestone of an expanded lead indication for SANA-013 consistent with the positive feedback from FDA, it is now time to streamline our focus to accelerate the development of SANA-013, including initiation of a Phase 1b/2a human study for Major Depressive Disorder in H1 2023.” Read our Psychedelic Invesstor’s full analysis of what this means for the company and industry at large.

Compass Pathways Makes Strides in Anorexia Research

Anorexia still does not have an FDA-approved treatment. Could psilocybin one day fill that void? Compass Pathways (Nasdaq: CMPS) shared promising study results this week that indicate its COMP360 psilocybin therapy may be beneficial for those suffering from anorexia. A 10-person trial conducted by Dr. Walter Kaye at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine found a single 25mg dose of the psychedelic drug led to 30% experiencing clinically significant reductions in eating disorder psychopathology at the 1-month follow up, and 40% experiencing clinically significant reductions at the 3-month follow-up. Overall, nine of the 10 subjects studied found the experience to be meaningful and therapeutic, and no serious adverse events were reported. “The results provide promising preliminary evidence that COMP360 psilocybin therapy could help people living with anorexia nervosa,” says Dr. Guy Goodwin, the company’s Chief Medical Officer. Though, he adds, the company’s confidence in the potential to treat the condition “needs to be further investigated in larger scale clinical studies.”