Psychedelic Business Spotlight: July 2, 2021

Technology

Virtual reality (VR) startup, Tripp Inc., raised $11 million in a Series A funding round, bringing its total funding to $15 million. The additional income will be used to help build the company’s team and user base, support cross-platform distribution, and to integrate its platform with therapy trips in step with the growing psychedelics industry. 

Tripp uses its platform to guide users through a breathing meditation, then creates virtual realities that promote mental health and emotional wellbeing by mimicking psychedelic visuals, sound frequencies, and gameplay mechanics. 

“We are so grateful to have the support of our partners and our investors who are mission-aligned with the reason we exist: to make people feel better and destigmatize mental health through the power, potential, and purpose of solutions such as Tripp’s digital psychedelic platform,” Tripp Chief Executive and Co-Founder Nanea Reeves said in a statement. 

More on the VR front: Resurgent Biosciences, a subsidiary of cannabis company and IP incubator Goodness Growth Holdings Inc., filed for a U.S. patent to create a suite of VR applications designed to be used by practitioners during psychedelic-based therapies to provide optimal set and setting. The company is banking on VR to provide the tools needed to create a consistent and repeatable therapeutic psychedelic experience in hopes that it will provide a more optimized and longer lasting therapeutic outcome. 

“The therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicines at least partially depends on an effective preparation phase to ensure that patients are in the right mindset and in beneficial surroundings in order to create a positive experience, which is often referred to as set and setting,” said Resurgent’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kyle Kingsley, M.D. 

Treatment

Braxia Scientific Corp., a medical research company that runs ketamine treatment facilities, is launching a psilocybin-assisted clinical therapy training program to develop, train, and support independent medical physicians, psychologists, and psychotherapists on best practices for providing psilocybin-assisted therapy for patients with depression.

Participating therapists will provide psychotherapy to patients during upcoming clinical trials at Braxia and evaluate the safety and efficacy of psilocybin for depression. When psilocybin is approved for therapeutic use, as is widely anticipated, the therapists would also be trained to administer psychedelics in their own clinical practice. 

“We are encouraged to see the growing number of clinical studies focused on demonstrating that psilocybin, and other potential psychedelics, may be safe and effective in treating people with multiple mental health conditions including treatment-resistant depression,” said Roger McIntyre, CEO, Braxia Scientific. “Although psilocybin is available mostly to participants in clinical research trials, we are focused on providing healthcare professionals with the training, competencies and practical experience to address the need for safe, legal and affordable access to high-quality psilocybin-assisted therapy as these innovative treatments prepare for regulatory approval.”

Allied Corp. and HAVN Life Sciences are teaming up to produce and distribute Psilonex RX psilocybin medical products for Allied’s patient cohort. Psilonex RX is a proprietary formulation of psilocybin, cordyceps, and lion’s mane mushrooms along with vitamin B and other ingredients. The formulation and trademark of Psilonex RX is currently under a provisional patent. 

Additionally, Allied has access to a cohort of more than 300 veterans and first-responder personnel with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who have requested treatment with Psilonex RX. Allied is seeking Section 56 exemptions for these patients in order for them to legally receive Psilonex RX under the care Allied and supervision of a physician. 

“We have the patient cohort, the physician over-sight, the holistic nutritionists and psilocybin experts, the pharmacist scientists and physician research team all in place. The last piece of the puzzle was the manufacturer and supplier,” said Calum Hughes, CEO of Allied Corp. “With this now in place, we are ready to embark on providing legal psilocybin products to the largest patient cohort that we know of in the world.”