PT491 – Dr. Sam Banister – Drug Development, The State of Biotech, and Exploring Non-Hallucinogenic Compounds

In this episode, Christopher Koddermann interviews Dr. Sam Banister: co-founder and chief scientific officer of Psylo, an Australian biotech company developing next-generation psychedelics.

Banister discusses how he got involved in drug development, how Psylo came about, and the hallucinogenic and non-hallucinogenic 5-HT2A agonists Psylo is working on. He talks about the compromise between immediate need and ambition, and the ethical considerations and possibilities behind developing non-hallucinogenic compounds: What can we take from the psychedelic experience for people who aren’t ideal candidates for one? Is the psychedelic experience truly necessary? And for what indications will these new Gen 3 compounds be most useful?

He discusses:

• What we can infer about the volatility of biotech and the state of the psychedelic industry based on recent mergers and acquisitions
• The long-term challenges of drug development and the scalability of treatment options
• How the initial success of Spravato has played a role in allaying fears around new compounds
• Head twitch response and concerns it’s not as accurate of a metric as we’ve believed
• Australia’s decision to down-schedule psilocybin and MDMA, and the speed of implementation and licensing: How long will it be before people have easy access?
• What he sees for the future and why we need to be careful with language around expectations

and more! Click here to head to teh show notes page.