Ecstasy-for-Medicine Advocate Raises $100 Million
Series A funding raises more than $100 million for MAPS amid a flurry of deals by competitors
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit leader in the pharmaceutical psychedelics industry, has raised more than $100 million in a Series A private stock sale.
MAPS needed the money to fund the final stages of its application for regulatory approval to sell MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, the organization said in an announcement Friday.
The share sale, through MAPS Public Benefit Corporation, comes amid a flurry of financings by companies jockeying to come first to market with psychedelic treatments for mental illnesses that are hard to treat with conventional drugs. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the MAPS deal was in the works.
Publicly listed Atai Life Sciences announced this week a $50 million investment in U.K.-based Beckley Psytech, a private company developing a rapid-acting psychedelic medicine for depression. Small Pharma, another U.K.-based manufacturer of fast-acting psychedelics, agreed in August to be acquired by Canadian company Cybin in an all-stock deal.
Compass Pathways disclosed in August an up-to-$285 million sale of stocks and warrants to hedge-fund managers including TCG Crossover Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors. The capital will help Compass run clinical trials through late 2025 using psilocybin—the active ingredient in magic mushrooms—to treat depression, the company said. Compass is also partially owned by Atai.
Hopes are high that psychedelics could help millions of patients, but first developers must clear the expensive regulatory approval process. That is forcing many startups to sell stock at a time when biopharmaceutical valuations are low.
Investors in the MAPS Series A include Helena, an organization aimed at solving global problems; venture-capital firm Vine Ventures; a foundation funded by hedge-fund manager Joe Samberg; and a foundation funded by hedge-fund manager Steven Cohen and his wife, Alex Cohen.
The public-benefit corporation also dropped MAPS from its name and announced it would rebrand as Lykos Therapeutics. Rick Doblin, the founder of MAPS and a leader in the psychedelic legalization movement, will remain on the Lykos board of directors, and Amy Emerson, another MAPS veteran, will remain its chief executive.
MAPS reported in a September filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the deal would increase the value of its total shares issued to $215 million. That figure doesn’t include all of the stock sold in the Series A financing, a MAPS spokeswoman said.
MAPS has completed clinical trials for MDMA and submitted a new drug application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December. The FDA is expected to determine in coming weeks whether to accept the application for review, a process that can take six to 10 months.
FDA approval would force the Drug Enforcement Administration “to reschedule MDMA making it available for prescription medical use,” MAPS said.