Mushrooms as medicine: Peter Thiel-backed startup is making psilocybin

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• 
  Compass Pathways, an under-the-radar company with
  scientific oversight from esteemed scientists, is cranking
  out psilocybin to study the compound in people with
  depression.
• The London-based startup has made enough of the active
  ingredient in magic mushrooms for 20,000 doses.
• Compass has
  backing from Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Thiel, and
  its scientific advisory board includes Tom Insel, the former
  director of the National Institutes of Mental Health.

An under-the-radar company has made enough of the active
ingredient in magic mushrooms to send 20,000 people on a trip.

Compass Pathways, which is based in London and boasts an
advisory board of esteemed scientists, is cranking out
psilocybin to study the compound in people with depression.

That work comes amid a
recent resurgence in the study of
psychedelic drugs like mushrooms and
LSD for mental illness. While most of the research is being
led by universities and non-profit research institutions,
Compass, a for-profit company founded in 2016, sees itself as
helping to fill in the gaps.

The startup has
attracted funding from big names like Peter Thiel.
London-based entrepreneur Christian Angermayer, ex-hedge fund
manager Mike Novogratz, and film producer Sam Englebardt. 

Compass has also secured scientific oversight from respected
researchers like Tom Insel, the former director of the National
Institutes of Mental Health, and David Nutt, the former UK
government drug czar, who serve on its board of advisors. 

Thousands of doses of psilocybin

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So far, Compass claims it has made two 250-gram batches of
psilocybin, the equivalent of 20,000 doses of 25 mg of the
drug. Although some of that will be tested for stability,
the rest has been shaped into capsules. Those will soon be
shipped to a handful of sites in Europe and North America, where
Compass plans to use the psilocybin in clinical trials.

“We’re building on the significant work that has already been
done in this area, by gathering evidence in a larger population
to see whether psilocybin therapy could provide a breakthrough to
help patients,” the company said in a statement.

The study will focus on treatment-resistant depression, which is
one of the hardest-to-treat forms because people who have it
don’t respond to traditional therapy or medication. For the
trial, which is set to begin within a month, Compass is
enrolling 216 patients across more than a dozen research sites.

A resurgence of psychedelic research

Psilocybin has become a promising candidate for future treatments
for anxiety and depression because it appears to
disrupt the sorts of engrained brain activity patterns that
are the hallmark of those diseases. One study looked at the
compound’s potential to help alleviate anxiety in cancer
patients; others have looked at psilocybin’s potential effect on
depression, PTSD, and alcoholism.

Magic mushrooms aren’t the only psychedelic drug that’s getting
renewed attention, though. There’s been a steady trickle of
scientific research on psychedelic drugs’ potential therapeutic
benefits for at least the last five years.

A study in 2017 indicated that
ecstasy could help veterans cope with PTSD symptoms; and one
in 2012 hinted that
ketamine might curb major depression. That spate of research
finally seems to be leading to
the development of some promising potential
treatments that could get government
approval.

David Nutt, the
former chief drug advisor for the British government and a
current advisor to Compass Pathways, has been optimistic about
the federal approval process. He told
Business Insider last year that he expects to see psilocybin
approved as a treatment for depression by 2027.