When Stockhouse Editorial last caught up with Toronto-based
CYBIN Inc. (
N.CYBN,
OTC: CYBN,
Forum) back in
September 2020, the psychedelic life sciences company was just going public…and to much fanfare. Cybin is a life sciences company that views psychedelic substances as “boosters for the brain” that can potentially rebuild pathways and break negative patterns
Today, the $420-plus million-dollar cap company has made major inroads into progressing psychedelic therapeutics by utilizing proprietary drug discovery platforms, innovative drug delivery systems, novel formulation approaches and treatment regimens for psychiatric disorders, all protected under its ever-growing IP portfolio.
Stockhouse Media’s Dave Jackson was joined, once again, by Cybin’s CEO, Doug Drysdale, to talk about the company’s innovative research into psychedelic mental health sciences, their unique product portfolio, and much more.
(Click image to play video)
TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
SH: There’s a lot of interest among investors around how these products are used and what they’re capable of. Can you walk us through Cybin’s products and offerings?
DD: You're right. There's a lot of interest and what an exciting sector to be in. We've seen some of the data from academic studies that shows the potential for psychedelics to be four times more effective than current treatments and maybe provide remission from depression symptoms or addictive cravings for weeks or months at a time from just one or two doses. So really, really exciting to be a part of that. The good thing also is that we know an awful lot about these molecules. They were discovered in some cases decades ago, so we understand the pros I'm going to send their columns and Cybin we're working to overcome many of those flaws. We are using medicinal chemistry and drug delivery technologies. So we have programs turning psychedelics into prescription pharmaceutical products for mental health disorders, like depression, anxiety, and addiction.
SH: What’s the overall importance of psychotherapy with psychedelics and what, if any, are the inherent dangers associated with it?
DD: That's a good question. So when we look at studies that have been done with psychedelics, those studies that omit the psychotherapy or have much reduced psychotherapy have far less impressive results. We also know that looking at FMRI studies, neuroimaging studies, that psychedelics appear to cause a period of neuroplasticity. So new networks and connections in the areas in the brain talking to each other. We think that that makes the patient more susceptible to psychotherapy. So it's really a combination of the psychotherapy and the molecule that is having the effect here. I'd also say that the psychotherapy are given under supervision under observation and while some of these treatment sessions might be traumatic, that's because the patients are facing some kind of underlying trauma that may have cools and depression or their addiction. So they're very powerful treatments and that's why we give them.
SH: You just recently uplisted to the NYSE American. Can you expand on this initiative for our investor audience and its benefits?
DD: Yeah, very proud of the Cybin team for making that happen, months and months of work and great validation buying under the US stock exchange. Cybin has undergone five of the subscribed financing rounds largely funded by US biotech funds. So we were pretty overweight with institutional holdings. So moving to the NYSE has enabled us to provide access to retail investors and we've seen a big increase in liquidity and volume since we started trading now.
SH: So, let’s talk about this rapidly growing sector and Cybin's novel pipeline of compounds. What does the psilocybin-psychedelic offer and how fast is it moving?
DD: It is moving fast. We're seeing new companies jump into the fray every day and so for Cybin we have three main drug programs for depression, anxiety disorders, and addiction and those are progressing really quickly. So by the end of this year, even so just within the next few months, we expect to see data from our depression program and data from an alcohol use disorder program to really will show us that we can deliver those faster onset, shorter acting treatments that we've been working towards. So lots of catalysts coming up in the next few months and in early 2022, we expect to move our alcohol program into first in man study. So really groundbreaking news coming up in the not too distant future.
SH: What’s the overall importance of psychotherapy with psychedelics…how big can this sector really get?
DD: Yeah, that's a good question. So I was reading recently that if you take all of the indications, all of the conditions that psychedelic companies up issuing that gives you a total addressable market, somewhere in the region of $300 billion annually. When you think that the total combined market caps of all the public psychedelic companies today is around 10 billion, then clearly, we have a long way to go in terms of value creation for investors over the coming years.
SH: Can you update us on any existing infrastructure available to support clinical trials right now?
DD: Yeah, infrastructure is a challenge. So as we think about this clinical studies, not only do we need therapists and investigators that have experienced with psychedelics, we also need clinics to be able to run the studies in and to deliver the psychotherapy and the treatment. So Cybin has formed a partnership with Greenberg TMS. Greenpoint manages 149 mental health clinics across the United States, So in all 50 states and has access to tens of thousands of depressive patients that they treat every year. So we think that this partnership will help us build centers of excellence and get access to infrastructure, support clinical studies, and helped us start to define what the standard of care of psychedelic psychotherapeutic medicine looks like as we go forward.
SH: What are the challenges of long-acting treatments for depression (i.e. addiction clinics)?
DD: Yeah, so I think this is a real challenge, when we speak to our clinical partners and we talk to them about psilocybin or LSD or MDMA that has treatment durations, anything from six hours to 10 hours, maybe more, they really struggled with that. They are profitable businesses, many of them are private businesses and the concept for them of having a patient in a room for an entire day, tying up that space for a whole day. It just doesn't make any sense for their business model. So that's why we're really targeting short acting and faster acting treatments so that we can target that therapeutic timeline, the typical therapy session. So maybe 45 minutes to two hours, something like that. So then our clinical partners can see multiple patients a day and that's going to bring down the overall cost of treatment for everyone and help with reimbursement.
SH: What’s Cybin’s near-term revenue model? The company looks to be cashed-up right now.
DD: You're right. We've raised $120 million Canadian today. We've got a good solid 24 months of runway ahead of us. Of course you won't be seeing revenue for some time. Drug development is lengthy and it's expensive but having access to NYSE American, I think is an important factor for future fundraisers and as we generate many milestones of the coming years.
SH: How is Cybin establishing its brand presence?
DD: I think we are all gradually expanding the team and expanding our reach. We've gone from five people a year ago to around 55 people today in four countries and managing 50 partnerships. So we have this hub, this core team that is managing 50 groups around the world that have access to different technologies and infrastructure and that's really beginning to take a big impact on Cybin’s presence in the psychedelic space. I think we're really leading in this space.
SH: Is Cybin still advancing its clinical trials in Jamaica and what does this involve?
DD: Yeah, so we were approved to begin the phase two study in Jamaica. It's in two parts, 2A and a 2B. The 2B part of the study is around efficacy and safety but the 2A part of the study is really important. That's the first part of this study where we'll look to see if a sublingual film formulation of psilocybin really has a fossil onset and short duration that we're looking for. It's really important. We have no interest as Cybin in developing a six hour treatment. It's not about being first here. It's about being the best and providing the best treatment to patients and so we expect to get data from that PK study around the end of this year.
SH: Let’s find out a bit more about your leadership team and perspective. What brought you to lead the company and do you intend to repeat your past success with other pharma businesses here?
DD: I've been in healthcare for 30 years and I don't think there's any time in my career THAT I've had such a big opportunity to help so many people in such a meaningful way. So it's a real privilege to be involved with Cybin. and I would say that the entire team feels the same way, they share my passion for this. We have a team that’s managed 60 development programs with FDA, filed almost 90 patents, published 300 peer reviewed papers, really well close, and it's a real privilege to be working with them.
SH: I have to mention your stock has had a very nice bump since you went public last November…nearly tripling in value since then. What can you tell our investor audience regarding the current valuation of your stock and why you think it’s still a good buy right now?
DD: You'd expect me to say that there's plenty of upside and of course, I will. I do think that we have a lot of catalysts coming up and I think we're really drive value But don't take my word for it when Cybin is covered by eight analysts across the US and Canada. and I think the consensus price target is around $11 and we're trading at about $2.60-$2.70 today. So clearly lots of upside, as I say, as we generate data from our clinical studies and we move to our first inbound side, there's lots of opportunities for those catalysts to move the stock.
SH: Thanks for your time today, Doug. Anything further you’d like to add?
DD: Dave pleasure to be here. I will say I am just continuously encouraged by the positive momentum in this space, FDA grounding breakthrough therapy status for example and recently DEA announcing that they think that the quota for psilocybin should be increased to allow more access to psilocybin research, just great signs that we're seeing, positive momentum and I really think that Cybin seems to be proud of that leading the way in this space.
For more information, visit
cybin.com.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.