Biotechnology start-ups seeking to use psychedelic drugs to treat mental health disorders are raising hundreds of millions of dollars, as investors are tempted back to the sector by watershed clinical data and regulatory approvals expected this year. Groups seeking to harness mind-altering substances including MDMA, psilocybin mushrooms and 5-MeO-DMT, a hallucinogen found in desert toad secretions, raised at least $163mn across five deals in January, according to PitchBook and company data.
Lykos Therapeutics, a corporate offshoot of the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, is also awaiting a decision from the FDA on its MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder expected by the third quarter of 2024. The decision could lead to the schedule-1 controlled substance being reclassified for use as a mental health treatment, the first time such a reclassification will have taken place.