Pacific Coast Business Times: Ventech talk Highlights the Business of Psychedelics
By Jorge Mercado Thursday, October 24th, 2024
A 2023 study conducted by KFF/CNN found that nearly 4 in 10 adults reported symptoms of depression or anxiety, with the same report finding that 90% of the public believes there is a mental health crisis in the U.S.
But despite an increase in those being diagnosed with some form of mental health issue, treatments for such ailments are not as clear-cut as fixing a broken leg or a broken arm.
Dr. Remi Drozd, a former emergency room physician, noticed the same thing.
So, he founded Lucid Therapeutics a medical practice dedicated to improving mental health and wellbeing through professionally guided use of psychedelics.
And on Oct. 17, Drozd was one of three speakers talking about the evolving landscape of the psychedelics business.
“I’m a fan of Western medicine, but it’s not a tool that can be political all problems, specifically mental health problems,” Drozd said at the event, hosted by Ventech, an emerging technology forum.
“We use a reductionistic model to teach ourselves how to manage problems as physicians, and it works great if your elbow hurts. To localize it works great. Mechanics do it. But it doesn’t work that much when it comes down to managing symptoms of depression or anxiety.”
Drozd noted that 60% of people who have depression or anxiety take a
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor or SSRI. The idea is to help alleviate a chemical imbalance in the brain.
The problem is that every person is different, and while SSRIs do help millions of people, it doesn’t address the root cause of depression and anxiety for many others, which could come from traumatic events.
“This is the beginning of what I would call a sick care system rather than this being a healthcare system and addressing the person and their specific problem,” Drozd said.
“This became a symptom-based process.”
As such, people are looking to psychedelics such as ketamine, MDMA and others, as another thing that could help as it has been shown to effectively treat depression and other mental health conditions.
Drozd noted that large drug companies are investing such as Lycos Therapeutics which is seeking to become the first FDA-approved psychedelic.
“Sigmund Freud said that what the telescope did for astronomy, the microscope did for biology, and it’s what psychedelics will do for psychiatry and mental health,” Drozd said.
Other speakers at the event included Jacob Tell, CEO and co-founder of Oniracom, LODO Studios, and District 216 andSean Scarritt.
Tell talked particularly about the importance of District 216, a psychedelic social club that really hits on “community building.”
“Our long-term vision is to advocate to advance the full decriminalization and normalization of psychedelics use in our daily lives,” Tell said.
District 216 hosts events every week that range from Q and A’s to roundtable discussions to just meetups and giving people a place every week to discuss the key issues and positives around psychedelics.
Tell said the organization has different membership options that allow them to make money to bring in special guests, whether it be experts or other keynote speakers.
District 216 launched in 2023 and Tell said that it has gone so well “we are looking to expand this business model to become multi-geography, multi-city, multi-location.”
“We’re going to be doing more interviews, more round tables, more workshops, more screenings, more marquee events in new locations,” he said.
Scarritt is the co-founder of the Entheogenic Medical Research Centre, the only organization in the world currently authorized by a national regulatory compliance regime to manage the entire value chain of psychedelic-assisted therapeutic treatment.
The organization provides a sustainable pipeline of highly-trained psychedelic-assisted therapist practitioners in order toprovide safe, effective and accessible mental health treatments that address the unmet needs of patients everywhere.
“There’s an absolutely massive unmet need for trained therapists who can actually utilize these compounds in a safe and ethical way,” Scarritt said.
Scarritt said
He also spoke about the importance of community and education around the space.
.”I would say that psychedelic use can be most dangerous when done without a support system, particularly a safe support system,” Scarritt said.
An expert in the industry, Scarritt also noted how investors should be cognizant of the pace of companies and startups.
“Experts inside the space understand the pace at which this transformation is going to occur in a realistic way because there are guidelines for how quickly a drug will pass through the FDA,” Scarritt said.
“The rate at which they can actually bring drugs to market is far away.”
email: jmercado@pacbiztimes.com
