Neural Therapeutics Inc., a drug discovery company focused on mescaline extracted from the San Pedro cactus, has gained conditional approval to list on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE).
The company plans to raise C$500,000 to advance its ongoing research and development activities and secure its intellectual property, with two patents in progress.
Neural's CEO Ian Campbell joined Proactive to discuss the company’s strategic decision to list on the exchange, which aims to showcase its value to potential investors amid rising interest in psychedelics as potentially groundbreaking therapies for mental health conditions.
Proactive: You’ve received conditional approval to list on the CSE. Why now?
Ian Campbell: It’s something we’ve planned for quite some time and we’ve been discussing with our seed investors. As we move through the major milestones and expand on our intellectual property, this strategic CSE listing opens up broader market participation that’s timely and invites investors to directly engage and capitalize in our dynamic advancements.
How much are you planning to raise and how would you deploy those funds?
At this low valuation right now we’re targeting a capital raise of about C$500,000 that’s earmarked for intensive R&D efforts, some of which are already in progress. These funds will be strategically deployed to further our initiatives to secure intellectual property, such as the two patents we already have well underway.
There’s growing interest and acceptance of psychedelic treatments by regulatory authorities in the US, Canada and Australia. How has your peer group captured investor interest?
It’s very evident there is a mental health crisis today. The mental health market is significantly underserved by outdated therapies, drugs that were developed 50 or 60 years ago with limited efficacy. New science in this field shows that psychedelics can be extremely groundbreaking. There’s a high degree of efficacy. It’s promising to be a very disruptive trend to the pharmaceutical industry. For instance, we’ve seen over $320 million invested this year in psychedelic companies and the Psychedelic Invest Index is up 44% in the year-to-date. So, through significant value creation milestones, it makes now the perfect time to invest.
What makes Neural Therapeutics and mescaline as a treatment for addiction and mental health unique?
We specialize in mescaline that’s extracted from a plant called San Pedro. Mescaline is the active psychedelic drug. It's actually known as the grandfather of psychedelics. It’s widely accepted as the longest, safely used psychedelic with nearly 6,000 years of documented use. We cultivate that through our partner networks and we’re working on the extraction of mescaline with other compounds that support its efficacy.
We are working with a natural drug that has been demonstrated to be safe and has a unique capability to last longer in the body than other psychedelics. Unlike the traditional route where individuals go for a treatment, take a macro dose and have a psychedelic trip, we are going to make use of the fact that mescaline and the other compounds that surround it stay longer in the body. They bathe the brain longer and we can make use of lower doses without a hallucination. This is very important for a process called neuroplasticity, basically repairing the brain and reconnecting those neurons which is critical for achieving breakthrough treatments in mental health such as addiction.
How would the CSE listing help you accelerate your efforts to advance your drug development programs and what are the next steps?
Listing on the CSE will boost our visibility and showcase our value to potential investors. This listing supports ongoing projects, some of which are already well underway. It allows investors to participate in our success and it ensures rapid progress and engagement with those who are growth-focused backers who can actually vote with their dollars.
Quotes have been edited for clarity and style