Gillooly reminded the audience that MAPS has stewarded MDMA-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT) through to its current late-stage trials within a remarkably unique model that departs from those of conventional venture-backed or publicly-traded companies. Rather, this feat has thus far been achieved by what was originally, “a small and dedicated group of people,” that has now grown significantly.

Of course, Gillooly is one of those dedicated folks that has been instrumental in sustaining the work of MAPS in her role as Major Gifts Officer for the nonprofit. Gillooly is also a founder of the North Star Project, who co-hosted the Business Forum.

Among Gillooly’s remarks a question was posed: how might set and setting be impacted by the fact that we can presume most people will be accessing psychedelic-assisted therapies (PATs) via businesses in the near future? How might the pressures of business models and revenue forecasts change the delivery of PAT? The broader concern surrounding how for-profit business models may affect PAT was expressed by Gillooly, who noted, “there are so many powers and influences that impact how a business shows up in the world and what they decide to do.”

Amy Emerson, CEO of MAPS’ for-profit Public Benefit Corporation (MAPS PBC), put it more bluntly: “This space could become dominated by companies whose primary obligation is to shareholders. Let’s not do that. That’s why we’re all here.”

But MAPS PBC is not immune to the strictures that running a business can place on an organization’s decision-making processes. As we heard throughout the conference (including from MAPS PBC’s Joy Sun Cooper and Amy Emerson at Saturday’s session: Beyond FDA Approval), the roll-out of MDMA-AT via MAPS PBC is an enormous task that involves making difficult decisions.

One such decision pertains to the pricing of MDMA-AT. MAPS PBC hopes to drive enough revenue to support a patient access fund and fuel the drug policy reform efforts of MAPS, but needs to pay close attention to cost-effectiveness, a key element to getting payers like insurance companies and healthcare providers on-board. Of course, the therapy itself represents the bulk of the expense.

The PBC has enlisted the help of Boston Consulting Group to sketch out different pricing models and their likely impacts on MAPS’ broader objectives as well as payer acceptance, but it appears that such decisions are still very much underway.

Joe Green, co-founder of the Psychedelic Science Funders Collaborative (PSFC), presented the group’s Psychedelic Landscape Report (in which our data is featured), which presents an overview of the organisations, companies and individuals advancing the field as well as identifying the highest impact areas of funding (see more in this Bloomberg write-up of one of the panels at Horizons).

Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson and business attorney Jenny Kassan clashed at the Catalytic Funding session during Thursday’s Business Forum. Kassan cited concerns over labour conditions at Tesla, a company that Jurvetson sits on the board of, after Jurvetson cited the company as an exemplar case of innovation. Jurvetson robustly rebuked Kassan’s accusations, to which Kassan urged the audience as the panel wrapped up to “Google Tesla workers,” before removing her microphone. The debate continued outside the hall.

At the close of the day, Vine Ventures’ Ryan Zurrer made an announcement that surprised many: the launch of a $70m investment vehicle to support the final leg of MAPS’ MDMA-AT for PTSD efforts. Thus far, MAPS’ research has been funded via $130m in philanthropic donations over its 35-year history. As such, this SPV represents a shift away from this donation-only approach, funding the next stretch of MAPS MDMA-AT for PTSD work via an investment vehicle. Read last week’s bulletin for more on this topic.

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On Legal and Regulatory Matters

MAPS’ Policy Director Ismail Lourido Ali memorably told the audience at Thursday’s Business Forum that, “your retreat centre is not a religion.” Ali was intending to draw a clear line between sanctioned religious uses of psychedelics and those retreat centres and other providers that may simply try to invoke such settings.

Ali also made a compelling case for the importance of MAPS’ medical model (which forms just one part of the nonprofit’s work), explaining that thinking about the delivery models of MDMA-AT is crucial: “only by intentionally looking at the delivery models can we reverse healthcare disparities.” FDA approval, and payer coverage, will be central here. And, as aforementioned, the price must be right.

Later, Joe Green urged attendees to pay more attention to Oregon, which will allow the legal provision of psilocybin-assisted therapy starting in 2023, following the passage of Measure 109. Green pointed out that this ballot initiative was passed with $5.5m in funding, and estimates that another 25 states could pass similar measures or initiatives with around $100m of funding. This would represent around two-thirds of the U.S. population, he notes.

On the topic of Measure 109, we also heard from Thomas Eckert, chief architect of Oregon’s Measure 109 – along with his late wife Sheri – on two occasions. Eckert is now the chair of the Psilocybin Advisory Board, which is actualizing the psilocybin services provision mandated by Measure 109.

Eckert explained that they began developing the State-wide program back in 2015, “well before any other psychedelic policy reform movements that popped up around the country.” He also mentioned the Sheri Eckert Foundation, which aims to ensure “Oregon’s evolving psychedelic ecosystem includes professionals and participants from diverse backgrounds, financial means, and geographies around the state.”

Psilocybin Alpha editor-at-large Graham Pechenik asked Can We Have a Psychedelic Patent System at Saturday’s proceedings, and made his slides available to the public. Pechenik was speaking alongside Nicole Howell, who made a strong case for asking not ‘how do we make psychedelics more mainstream,’ but rather ‘how do we make the mainstream more psychedelic?’

Later on Saturday, Laura Mae Northrup gave a powerful talk on sexual abuse in PAT, saying what many might hope is obvious: “I want to be clear that having sex with the client or patient in a psychedelic therapy relationship is always sexual abuse, and that is because of the power dynamic.”