MindMed to become second psychedelic drug developer to go public in the U.S.
26 April 2021
MindMed tomorrow is set to become the second psychedelic drug developer to go public in the U.S., with a third right around the corner.
Why it matters: Wall Street is eagerly volunteering for a high-risk trip, tempted by a massive addressable market for mental health treatments.
The big bet: Most clinical-stage biotech bets are binary, but MindMed has the added challenge of its active ingredient being considered Schedule 1 drugs. In other words, it needs to worry as much about the DEA as the FDA.
- Another complicating factor is that MindMed believes its products should be taken under medical supervision, although it's unclear if FDA approval would accept telepresence in lieu of in-person.
- In other words, this is a very different legalization process than with cannabis, which is as much about recreational use as it is medical use.
Capital markets: New York-based MindMed went public last year on Toronto's NEO Exchange, after failing to secure a second round of VC funding.
- "VCs had blinders on when they saw those three letters: LSD," says MindMed founder and co-CEO JR Rahn. "We got laughed out of most rooms. Where we found patient capital was up in Toronto."
- Rahm adds that the move to Nasdaq will allow institutional investors to take larger positions in the company, although it will keep its NEO listing active.
- Fellow psychedelics developer Compass Pathways went public last last year and currently has a $1.33 billion market cap. ATAI Life Sciences, backed by Peter Thiel, just filed for its own IPO.
The bottom line: Psychedelics have been studied for decades, but were mostly ignored by investors until the past year. What seems to have changed in the past year was the pandemic, which increased public awareness of the scale of mental health ailments, and the relative paucity of available treatments and treatment infrastructure.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.