Nasdaq Fever: MindMed Secures Listing; Atai Plans IPO

In September 2020, MindMed announced their application to list on the Nasdaq. Speaking to Psilocybin Alpha, CEO and Co-founder JR Rahn explained his hopes that the move would give the company further access to U.S. capital markets, hot on the heels of COMPASS Pathways’ $146.6m IPO.

Today, the company announced the success of its application. As such, MindMed is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq on Tuesday April 27th, 2021, under ticker symbol MNMD.

The Nasdaq news doesn’t stop there. This week Atai Life Sciences’ preliminary prospectus was filed, outlining a $100m IPO set to take place on the Nasdaq. The company has raised over $360m to date in private rounds. A date for the IPO is yet to be set. Read CNBC’s coverage here.

A number of smaller public companies in the space (many of which are micro- or nano-cap companies) have also announced plans to uplist to the Nasdaq. Silo Pharma, for example, announced ‘plans’ to uplist to the Nasdaq just this week.

SILO listed in January 2021 on the OTCQB. With a market cap of ~$20m and a stock price of ~$0.28, the company has a long way to go before meeting conventional criteria for a Nasdaq uplisting.

As such, it remains prudent to be realistic about any such ‘plans,’ and readers may wish to review Nasdaq’s own initial listing guide to understand the general set of hoops that must be jumped through before the exchange will entertain (up)listings.

Champignon Brands Resumes Trading

Champignon Brands, which has been subject to two back-to-back Cease Trade Orders (CTO) for the better part of a year, resumed trading today. 

The Toronto-based company has been scrutinized by regulators due to its failure to file a number of documents with the BC Securities Commission, including financial statements and business acquisition reports.

As a result of the ensuing CTO, a bevy of law firms have taken an interest, some of which have filed class-action lawsuits to “recover damages … for alleged violations of federal securities laws.” 

While these lawsuits aren’t uncommon in such situations, this debacle should serve as a reminder to investors to exercise diligence when evaluating small/micro/nano-cap public companies, in particular.

Revive’s Flimsy Film Results

Revive Therapeutics announced “successful research results for Oral Thin Film Psilocybin” this week. 

The research at hand was to determine whether psilocybin could be incorporated into an oral thin-film that released the psilocybin upon dissolution in water; a feasibility study of sorts. The answer was yes. The research demonstrated the product dissolved in water with doses between 1mg to 20mg.

Readers shouldn’t be surprised by this finding; i.e., that it is possible to incorporate psilocybin into a dissolvable thin film. While we make no judgment on the novelty of this specific chitosan-tannin hydrogel film product, a glance at our Psilocybin Patent tracker shows that Concept Matrix Solutions have a patent pending (US20210015738A1) for an oral dissolvable film containing psychedelic compounds such as psilocybin, psilocin, and baeocystin.

We also know that other companies in the space, such as Cybin, are working on orally dissolvable psilocybin film. Atai, in fact, has a strategic partnership with pharmaceutical film developer IntelGenx under which they acquired around a quarter of the company.

Other News

• Beckley Psytech partners with Fluence to create psychedelic therapy training programme with 5-MeO-DMT focus;
• PharmaTher submits IND application with FDA for Phase 2 trial of ketamine in Parkinson’s;
• Revive Therapeutics presses ahead with oral thin film psilocybin.

… and more on our News page.