Compass Pathways isn’t the first company to fashion FDA-regulated therapies out of psilocybin, but it intends to be the first one to go public.
This week, the British company is seeking to raise about $100 million at a $570 million valuation. Compass, which counts Thiel Capital among its private investors, intends to sell 6.7 million shares for between $14 and $16 each. The funds will support an ongoing Phase 2b trial intended to prove that psilocybin-based therapy can help patients with treatment-resistant depression.
Just how well the IPO performs will be closely watched in the nascent community of companies turning psychedelics into therapies. Firms like Compass, Field Trip Psychedelics, and CaamTech have so far succeeded in raising money from funds outside the financial mainstream but received less interest from buttoned-up Wall Street types.
Scientists still don’t fully understand how psychedelics work on the brain. There are also concerns about adverse events.
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