Psychedelics Inc.

Startups want to profit from psilocybin and LSD. They have the potential to heal millions.

Despite Covid-19, a crashing economy and formidable legal obstacles, a growing number of entrepreneurs and investors are betting that medicines derived from psychedelic drugs can become a real business and heal millions of people. They are joining the researchers, activists, philanthropists and journalists who until now have been driving what’s been called the psychedelic renaissance.

A dozen or more startup companies are developing medicines from psilocybin, MDMA, ibogaine and LSD, all of which are illegal in the US, as well as from ketamine, a legal anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties. They hope to treat a surprisingly wide range of mental conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, addiction, even Alzheimer’s disease.

Shares of Champignon Brands and MindMed began trading on stock exchanges in Canada in March. In April, Champignon — stock symbol SHRM — acquired Altmed Capital, a startup led by a prominent Canadian psychiatrist. Field Trip Health treated its first patient at a ketamine clinic in Toronto, and NeonMind Biosciences (formerly Flourish Mushroom Labs) agreed to build a laboratory in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to cultivate psilocybin from so-called…