eResearch | The size of the market for treatable (but generally untreated) mental health disorders is absolutely HUGE numbering in excess of 2 billion people worldwide and is forecast to more than triple in size to almost 7 billion by 2027, according to Data Bridge Market Research.
Currently, over $300 billion per year is spent on mental health in the U.S. alone, but there is little evidence that such expenditure has been very successful in alleviating the problem.
It would appear that one hope for effective treatment, currently, is from the use of the psychedelic compound, ketamine (see here), whose use in the U.S. and Canada is legal, having been used for years as an anesthetic in veterinary clinics.
It is now being used to treat chronic pain, addiction/substance abuse withdrawal management, and depression (there are more than 1 billion nicotine addicts, 107 million alcoholics, and 71 million drug use abusers worldwide) in a variety of therapy clinics in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and Norway.
The current situation has created a commercial opportunity for five (5) fledging clinical-stage research and development companies that have branched out to commercialize their operations with the opening of (or planned openings of) ketamine-based treatment (therapy) clinics and one company that plans to open clinics in Canada based on the use of ibogaine. The companies are: Awakn Life Sciences, Field Trip Health and Wellness, Numinus Wellness, Delic Holdings, Universal Ibogaine and Revitalist Lifestyle and Wellness Ltd.
Below is a description of each of the commercialization developments, market capitalizations, and price performances of each of the above 6 companies since the end of June, in descending order, and YTD:
- Awakn Life Sciences Corp. (NEO:AWAKN|OTCQB:AWKNF|FSE:954)
- is concentrating on the treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) with ketamine and has three fully-operational ketamine-assisted therapy clinics, two in the U.K. and one in Norway, expects to open two more in Manchester and Dublin in 2023, and have 20 clinics in operation by 2024 generating more than $100 million in revenue;
- has signed a licensing partnership agreement with Wellbeings® Pain Management and Dependency Clinic which will enable the Ontario-based Wellbeings® to treat its patients with Awakn’s proprietary ketamine-assisted therapy for the treatment of AUD as a co-morbidity for pain. The terms call for Awakn to provide access to its proprietary therapeutics for AUD and training to Wellbeings practitioners and for Wellbeings to pay Awakn an annual subscription and a revenue share per treatment;
- has signed a licensing partnership agreement with Revitalist Lifestyle and Wellness Ltd. (RCLWF), who are one of the largest publicly listed U.S.-based ketamine wellness-clinic chains with nine (9) clinics. The current license agreement calls for Awakn to provide access to its proprietary ketamine as well as training to Revitalist practitioners in return for which, Revitalist will pay Awakn an annual fee and a revenue share per treatment;
- has a market capitalization of $12 million, is up 46.6% since the end of June but is down 74.6% YTD.
- Numinus Wellness Inc. (TSX:NUMI|OTCQX:NUMIF)
- has 3 clinics in Canada (Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto) centered on the use of ketamine in its therapies but also with the ability to undertake treatments using psilocybin and MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, more commonly known by its street drug name, “Ecstasy” or “Molly” – short for ‘molecular’) as authorized by a Special Access Program regulated by Health Canada that allows people to access certain medications that are not yet authorized or available to the general public;
- has 6 clinics in Utah and 2 in Arizona utilizing ketamine-assisted therapy;
- has a market capitalization of $62 million, is up 26% since the end of June but is down 43% YTD.
- Delic Corp. (CSE:DELC|OTCQB:DELCF|FRA: 6X0)
- has the largest number of psychedelic wellness clinics in the U.S. with 13 in Arizona (3), Texas (2), Nevada (2), and one each in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Utah and Washington, which has done almost 100,000 treatments to date and is now generating an annual revenue of more than USD$4M;
- has a market capitalization of $6 million, is up 20% since the end of June but is down 57% YTD.
- Revitalist Lifestyle and Wellness Ltd. (CSE:CALM|OTCQB:RVLWF|FSE: 4DO
- provides ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and other novel treatments through its network of 10 integrative mental health clinics operating in 6 states and 9 options on other clinics;
- has a market capitalization of $4 million, is unchanged in price since the end of June but is down 56% YTD.
- Field Trip Health and Wellness Ltd. (TSXV:FTHW|OTCQB:FTHWF)
- is concentrating on therapies for treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder as well as disorders affecting the central nervous systems;
- operates ketamine-assisted psychotherapy clinics in Canada (3), the U.S. (8), and Europe (1);
- has undergone a corporate reorganization that culminated in the spinout of the Company from its former parent entity Reunion Neuroscience Inc., (formerly, Field Trip Health Ltd.) on August 17th and listing on the TSXV under the trading symbol FTHW. Reunion continues to hold 21.84% of Field Trip common shares;
- has a market capitalization of $26 million and has no comparative pricing as it was just listed as a separate entity.
- Universal Ibogaine Inc. (TSXV:IBO|OTCQB:IBOGF)
- is concentrating on the treatment of Opioid Use Disorder with ibogaine, a naturally-occurring molecule derived from the root bark of the iboga tree and other plants, which has a “Prescription Drug List” status in Canada (vs. Schedule 1 in the US) facilitating research and development toward medicalization;
- has acquired the revenue-generating Kelburn Addiction Recovery Center practice in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, with the intention of developing a state-of-the-art comprehensive and holistic addiction management care model which will be rolled out to future Universal Ibogaine clinics in Canada, the U.S., and internationally, and to be further monetized by offering training and franchising;
- has a market capitalization of $5 million, is down 20% since the end of June, and is down 69.2% YTD.
Surprisingly, the above-mentioned early movers in the psychedelic therapy clinic arena should be trading at a premium but such is not the case – as yet. 5 of the 6 stocks are up, on average, by 31.0% in the last 6 weeks but they are down 68.8% YTD. Incidentally, that compares favourably with the 8 largest clinical stage research and development companies that are constituents (see here) in the munKNEE Psychedelic Compounds-Based Drug Stocks Index which was up 36.2% in the last 6 weeks, albeit only down 38.5% YTD.
While it is too early to determine which such companies will be investment winners given the state of the mental health of so many people worldwide, and given that these companies are so well capitalized it begs the question, “How can they not succeed?”
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