MindMed to fund founding of Psychedelic Training @ NYU
NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2020 /CNW/ -- MindMed (NEO: MMED) (OTCQB: MMEDF), the leading psychedelic medicine biotech company, on the heels of filing a NASDAQ uplisting application, today announced a funding commitment to found and launch a clinical training program focused on psychedelic assisted therapies and psychedelic inspired medicines at NYU Langone Health, one of the nation's premier academic medical centers. The NYU Langone Health Psychedelic Medicine Research Training Program is the first step in a larger initiative to establish a Center for Psychedelic Medicine at NYU Langone Health.
NYU Langone Health and NYU Grossman School of Medicine have been early pioneers of clinical research with psychedelic assisted therapies and psychedelic inspired medicines for substance use disorders and other mental illnesses. Through this funding initiative, MindMed aims to catalyze efforts to recruit and train more psychiatrists and clinical investigators to undertake necessary research to develop training tools capable of scaling and optimizing the delivery of psychedelic assisted therapies and psychedelic inspired medicines to millions of patients across the United States.
"MindMed's funding meets an important need for recruiting more clinical investigators and psychiatrists to the expanding and promising areas of psychedelic assisted therapies and psychedelic inspired medicines, which can help so many people suffering from addiction and other mental illnesses," said Charles R. Marmar, M.D., Chair, Department of Psychiatry, NYU Grossman School of Medicine. "NYU Langone Health's training of the next generation of researchers and psychiatrists will help to advance and hopefully soon deploy this emerging category of medicines including psilocybin-assisted therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder and MindMed's ibogaine-derived molecule 18-MC for Opioid Use Disorder patients."
This new endeavor builds upon a longstanding partnership between MindMed's drug development team and the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, which have collaborated since 2009 on an ibogaine derived molecule known as 18-MC. MindMed plans to soon enter a Phase 2 trial with 18-MC for opioid use disorder patients.
As the entire psychedelic medicine industry progresses multiple psychedelic substances through clinical trials at the FDA, MindMed recognizes that the training of clinical investigators, psychiatrists and mental health professionals is of critical importance to enable the company to deploy therapies and medicines to patients in a regulated, accessible and financially efficient manner. The NYU Langone Health Psychedelic Medicine Research Training Program will have an initial focus on substance use disorders including opioid addiction and alcoholism.
"NYU Langone Health and the NYU Grossman School of Medicine are ideal partners for MindMed as we continue to evaluate and research future psychedelic assisted therapies and medicines for substance abuse disorders and other mental illnesses," said MindMed Co-Founders and Co-Chief Executive Officers J.R. Rahn and Stephen L. Hurst. "In order for our industry and company to turn these once stigmatized substances into medicines, we need to build the critical training infrastructure in the United States to train clinical researchers, psychiatrists, mental health professionals and substance abuse counselors who will ultimately be our close partners in delivering these future potential therapies and medicines to millions of patients in need."
MindMed is investing early in this critical infrastructure as the company sees a vast opportunity and a clear potential competitive advantage in supporting, training and bridging access to large groups of mental health professionals skilled in psychedelic assisted therapies and medicines.
MindMed is committing $5 million over a five-year period to the NYU Langone Health Psychedelic Medicine Research Training Program and the future corresponding Center for Psychedelic Medicine at NYU Langone Health. NYU Langone Health will have full and free discretion in using these funds for the development and conduct of the training program and operations of the Center for Psychedelic Medicine. The launch of the Center for Psychedelic Medicine at NYU Langone Health is still subject to additional funding from other undisclosed partners and parties.
The Psychedelic Medicine Research Training Program will be managed by Principal Investigator Michael Bogenschutz, M.D., an expert in clinical trials research and the primary investigator leading the effort towards FDA approval of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for Alcohol Use Disorder. The program will be directed by Stephen Ross, M.D., a world leader in advancing research on psychedelic medicine and a prominent addiction psychiatrist.
About MindMed
MindMed is a psychedelic medicine biotech company that discovers, develops and deploys psychedelic inspired medicines and therapies to address addiction and mental illness. The company is assembling a compelling drug development pipeline of innovative treatments based on psychedelic substances including Psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, DMT and an Ibogaine derivative, 18-MC. The MindMed executive team brings extensive biopharmaceutical experience to the company's groundbreaking approach to developing the next-generation of psychedelic inspired medicines and therapies.
MindMed trades on the Canadian exchange NEO under the symbol MMED. MindMed is also traded in the United States under the symbol MMEDF and in Germany under the symbol MMQ. For more information: www.mindmed.co
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SOURCE Mind Medicine (MindMed) Inc.