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Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous and MindMed CEO JR Rahn discuss the company’s outlook during the coronavirus pandemic.
Transcript of the video
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: The global pandemic has created a huge spike in mental health conditions. This summer, the CDC reported that 11% of American adults considered suicide, while a whopping 40% said they were struggling with mental health or substance abuse. Companies like MindMed are creating psychedelic drugs to help people fight these mental health problems. With me now is MindMed co-founder and co-CEO, JR Rahn.
JR, it’s good to have you on the show. I know you are conducting clinical trials on these psychedelic drugs for anxiety, opioid use. Tell us why LSD and magic mushrooms are more effective in treating these ailments than those already on the market?
JR RAHN: Well, I think psychedelic medicines offer a new paradigm in mental health. We are really trying to figure out what the underlying cause of many of these diseases affecting Americans is. And traditional CNS space medicines that treat things like depression, addiction, and anxiety are really trying to numb and mask the problems surrounding these diseases.
So, things like Xanax, while they can make you feel better, can also be addictive and have nothing to do with the underlying problem or underlying trauma that is ultimately causing you this – these mental health accidents. And I think it is… it matters now more than ever, as we continue here stuck with COVID-19.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: You know, investors call this asset class the new cannabis, but like cannabis, it has to contend with regulations. What kind of regulatory hurdles do you have to overcome with these psychedelic drugs? And what kind of impediment am I to growth in the industry?
JR RAHN: Well, in many ways we are compared to cannabis mainly because we are a scheduled substance, but these are very different substances, cannabis and psychedelics. In fact, psychedelics were originally discovered and developed within large pharmaceutical companies like Novartis in the early days of Novartis in a place called Sandoz labs in Switzerland.
In terms of the regulatory hurdles that we, that we have to tackle and that we have to reach, everything we do is federal compliant. We are doing it all through the path of the FDA or national regulators in various other countries where we conduct trials. We are not trying to go the same way that state-based cannabis did, seeking statewide approvals. The companies taking this biotech approach are really trying to prove the safety and efficacy of these drugs to the FDA.
There are efforts that are trying, in some states, to decriminalize and legalize psychedelics. A measure, measure 109, just approved in Oregon, which would legalize psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. We think this is indeed a voice and will of the people that we need innovative mental health solutions, but we believe, ultimately, that these become mainstream drugs only with FDA approval.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: You have famous supporters. “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, here a friend of Yahoo Finance, supports your company, also the founder of Toms shoes. How do you get those people to … to accept? And maybe that stigma about psychedelic drugs is starting to fade.
JR RAHN: Look, I was initially turned down by Mr. Wonderful when I first proposed that psychedelics be used to treat mental health, but I think, when you look at the underlying problem, they are big social issues. 40% of Americans had mental health or addiction in the midst of COVID-19. 11% of Americans, in June, considered committing suicide.
These are problems that will affect our country for many, many years in the future. And I think the biggest result and the biggest impact COVID-19 will have on society is in mental health and addiction. And so we need to work on innovative treatments that actually try to solve the underlying problems with – that are causing these diseases.
And so, to involve people like Blake from Toms Shoes and Kevin O’Leary, they’re human too, right? And I think everyone should want to find the solution to these problems that plague society.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: And to that end, I know you recently partnered with NYU Langone Medical Center. What are you doing with them?
JR RAHN: So NYU Langone Health was a great researcher in the psychedelic space. What we’re interested in at NYU is to start training the next generation of psychiatrists on how to start implementing psychedelic drugs in practices across America in order to possibly scale these – these drugs. Once and if they are approved by the FDA, we will need a network of psychiatrists and therapists who are able to administer them to patients.
And so we’re working on the protocols and conducting further research in collaboration with NYU. That’s the goal: to find better ways to train the next generation of psychiatrists.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: It now appears that investors are comfortable betting on drugs that are still federally illegal. You had COMPASS Pathways, which also dealt in psychedelic drugs, a couple of months ago with a gangbusters IPO with a billion dollar market valuation, Peter Thiel backed that company. In terms of MindMed, I know that you trade on the over-the-counter market. It also trades on a Canadian stock exchange. But you are looking to enter the NASDAQ. What kind of timeline is there for this?
JR RAHN: Yes we – we trade in the US on OTC under MMEDF. Our goal is to get to a NASDAQ uplist as quickly as possible. There are many people who want to list on the NASDAQ right now. And we submitted our application at the end of September and we are now going through all the regulatory processes. And we hope to have some… some great news soon, subject to regulatory assessments, but I think NASDAQ is a great opportunity.
As you mentioned, COMPASS Pathways had a very successful IPO there. It really proves, I think, that Wall Street looks at mental health and addiction, potentially, as America’s next big growth story. It’s sad, but I think it’s true.
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