Psychedelics Listing Makes Debut on the NEO

On Tuesday (March 3), the first psychedelics medicine company to trade publicly on the NEO Exchange made its debut to the market.

The team of Mind Medicine (NEO:MMED) opened the market at the NEO offices as part of the public launch for the company. Company co-founder, co-CEO and director JR Rahn told the Investing News Network (INN) this listing represented a big accomplishment for the entire psychedelics space.

However, Rahn made the point of classifying his firm strictly as psychedelics medicine, given that he will never move onto the recreational space. That decision comes as a promise to one of the biggest advocates for the company, Kevin O’Leary.

“I had to make him the promise that we would never touch recreational psychedelics,” said Rahn. “We don’t see a future in recreational psychedelics. The only future that we see is psychedelics medicines being passed through the FDA.”

Rahn told INN having O’Leary’s vote of confidence in the company was very important for Mind Med, since this gave the firm the chance to count with an investor “who institutions see as someone that they would take advice from.”

At the company’s public debut, O’Leary told the group gathered he actually at first said no to the investment potential with Mind Med at first, given that he has no interest in supporting businesses dependent on scheduled drugs.

“I said ‘Guys I can’t participate, this is going to go down the same road as cannabis,'” O’Leary, a critical voice of the marijuana investment industry, told the room of attendants.

The notorious investor from popular television shows Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank said he plans to strongly advocate for the company with institutional investors, who he says are seriously interested in the space.

In addition to O’Leary’s backing as an investor of the company, Mind Med also counts with the support of Bruce Linton, the co-founder and ex-CEO of Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC,TSX:WEED). Linton has spread around his wealth given that his investments have ranged into cannabis — including CBD — and now psychedelics as well.

According to Rahn, the psychedelics arena will see a lot of excitement and investor interest, but he expects to see a more concentrated number of companies compared to the boom of cannabis listings seen across Canadian exchanges.

The company’s pipeline is currently in the development cycle for its 18-MC drug candidate, which Rahn said can aid in the battle against opioid addiction. The drug is set to embark on a Phase 2 clinical trial in accordance with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Rahn said the work on 18-MC goes back over nine years, which he expects will reassure potential investors and put them ahead of other opportunities in the psychedelics investment market.

Besides this critical trial development for the firm, Rahn confirmed Mind Med is now actively looking to acquire new projects on board in order to expand its pipeline.

When asked why the company elected to reach the public markets through the NEO Exchange, Rahn told INN they view the exchange as the most efficient one in Canada after meeting the competition. The executive went as far as saying he thinks the up and coming exchange will become bigger than the TMX Group-run (TSX:X) listing houses.

The new company closed its first trading day with a price per share of C$0.40, representing a 22.7 percent increase for the day.

.@MindMedCo, made its global public markets debut today on NEO, becoming the world’s first publicly traded #psychedelic pharmaceutical company! $MMEDhttps://t.co/rPX9Zkb5R0 pic.twitter.com/m7b6ExyYEB

— NEO Exchange (@NEO_Exchange) March 3, 2020

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Securities Disclosure: I, Bryan Mc Govern, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.