Business Trip

Dive into the intriguing world of PsyMed Ventures as the hosts share their journey in building a mental health-focused venture capital fund. Discover the challenges of fundraising over $15 million in the psychedelic and neurotechnology sectors while emphasizing community engagement. Learn how radical ideas are becoming mainstream and their profound impact on healthcare. The importance of strategic partnerships and cultivating trust as emerging managers is highlighted. Transforming mental health through innovative investments is at the forefront of this compelling conversation.

Josh Hardman, founder of Psychedelic Alpha, delves into the evolving psychedelic industry landscape, job opportunities, challenges in fundraising, therapy protocols, investor sentiment, and the significance of reciprocity and collaboration in the industry.

In this week’s special episode, Matias chats with Dr. Rachel Yehuda and Zach Haigney at Soho House in New York City. This is part 2 of a moderated panel recorded in front of a live audience, with part 1 released in June 2022. Dr. Yehuda has spent the last 30 years doing research on PTSD and trauma and is leading the MDMA-assisted therapy research at the US Veterans Affairs Medical Center and serves as Director at the Mental Health at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center. She is also the Director of the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital and Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience. Zach Haigney writes the Trip Report by Beckley Waves, a newsletter about the science, policy, and business of psychedelics.Credits: Created by Greg Kubin and Matias SerebrinskyHost: Matias Serebrinsky & Greg KubinProduced by Jonathan A. Davis,  Zack Frank, & Caitlin NerFind us at businesstrip.fmFollow us on Instagram and Twitter!Theme music by Dorian LoveAdditional Music: Distant Daze by Zack Frank

This podcast explores the development of new psychedelic compounds, the therapeutic potential of MDMA, and the challenges of running a psychedelic biotech company. It also discusses the potential applications and administration methods of psychedelic compounds, as well as initiatives to improve access to MDMA. Additionally, it delves into the rush of biotech companies going public and the concept of founder equity pledge in the psychedelic research field.

In this new episode of Business Trip, we interview one of the first clinics to offer a protocol that includes TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) and ketamine infusion.TMS is a non-invasive procedure that sends electric currents to specific regions in the brain, including areas linked to depression. It's FDA approved and has been gaining adoption as clinical studies demonstrate safety and efficacy in treating mood disorders.So why the combination? TMS takes a local approach while ketamine stimulates global brain communication, according to Scenic City Neurotherapy founder Charles Miller. There's little data about the combination of TMS with ketamine, making this conversation quite interesting as Miller shares the protocol, science, costs, and treatment outcomes.Credits: Created by Greg Kubin and Matias SerebrinskyHost:  Matias SerebrinskyProduced by Jonathan A. Davis & Zack FrankFind us at businesstrip.fmFollow us on Instagram and Twitter!Theme music by Dorian LoveAdditional Music:Distant Daze by Zack Frank

In this week's episode, we chat with Christian Angermayer. Christian co-founded atai Life Sciences and was an early investor in Compass Pathways -- two of the first companies commercializing psychedelic medicine. Christian also launched a fund dedicated to mental and neurological health called re:Mind, is an investor through his family office Apeiron, and co-founded two longevity biotech companies.Credits: Created by Greg Kubin and Matias SerebrinskyHost:  Greg Kubin and Matias SerebrinskyProduced by Jonathan A. Davis & Zack FrankFind us at businesstrip.fmFollow us on Instagram and Twitter!Theme music by Dorian LoveAdditional Music:Distant Daze by Zack Frank

In this week’s episode, we chat with Melissa Stangl, co-founder of Soltara Healing Center. Soltara is an ayahuasca retreat center whose ceremonies are lead by Shipibo healers, with locations in Peru and Costa Rica. The Shipibo people are from the Peruvian Amazon and are part of a tradition that has been drinking Ayahuasca for healing and spiritual purposes for thousands of years. In their ceremonies, the Shipibo serve ayahuasca and sing songs, called Icaros, which guide the healing process and journey.Credits: Created by Greg Kubin and Matias SerebrinskyHost:  Greg Kubin and Matias SerebrinskyProduced by Jonathan A. Davis & Zack FrankFind us at businesstrip.fmFollow us on Instagram and Twitter!Theme music by Dorian LoveAdditional Music:Distant Daze by Zack Frank

This is final episode in our 3-part series on microdosing that explores the science, history, and clinical applications. In this episode, we discuss the path to FDA approval for microdosing. We chat with the chief medical officers from Diamond Therapeutics and MindMed about their microdosing clinical programs. Diamond's program uses synthetic psilocybin and is focused on anxiety disorders. Meanwhile, MindMed is focused using low doses of LSD to treat adult ADHD.  Our guests are Dr. Michael McDonnell (Diamond Therapeutics) and Dr. Dan Karlin (MindMed).In case you missed it: In part 1, we interviewed psychedelic researcher James Fadiman about the fundamentals of microdosing. In part 2, we discuss placebo effect and the results of a self-blinded placebo-controlled study with Balázs Szigeti from the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London.Disclaimer: This is not investment advice and is for information and educational purposes only. Credits: Created by Greg Kubin and Matias SerebrinskyHost:  Greg Kubin and Matias SerebrinskyProduced by Jonathan A. Davis & Zack FrankFind us at businesstrip.fmFollow us on Instagram and Twitter!Theme music by Dorian LoveAdditional Music:Distant Daze by Zack Frank

This is part 2 or our 3 part series on microdosing that explore the science, history, and clinical applications. In part 1, we interviewed psychedelic researcher James Fadiman about the fundamentals of microdosing. In part 2, we wanted to understand the placebo effect. In particular, is it the microdose that makes people feel better or it is a placebo effect? We interviewed Balázs Szigeti PhD, who is a researcher associate at the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. His team conducted the largest placebo-controlled microdosing study in 2020. Balázs unpacks the study and their findings in the episode.Credits: Created by Greg Kubin and Matias SerebrinskyHost:  Greg Kubin and Matias SerebrinskyProduced by Jonathan A. Davis & Zack FrankFind us at businesstrip.fmFollow us on Instagram and Twitter!Theme music by Dorian LoveAdditional Music: Distant Daze by Zack FrankZone Out by Daniel FridellLinks to topics discussed in this episode:Self-blinding citizen science to explore psychedelic microdosing (Szigeti et al., 2021)Centre for Psychedelic Research - Imperial College LondonStatistical and clinical significance

In this 3-part series on microdosing, we explore the science, history, and its clinical potential. The anecdotal benefits of microdosing include better mood, creativity, and increased focus. But there are still many unanswered questions that remain. What is an effective dosing protocol? Is it safe in long term use? Does it even work or is it a placebo effect?In part 1, we chat with James Fadiman, Ph.D who has been researching psychedelics since the 1960’s. He's the author of several books, including the Psychedelic Explorer's Guide. He has collected thousands of microdosing reports and even has his own microdosing protocol - called the Fadiman protocol. When we talk about standing on the shoulders of giants, James Fadiman is one of them.Credits: Created by Greg Kubin and Matias SerebrinskyHost:  Greg Kubin Produced by Jonathan A. Davis & Zack FrankFind us at businesstrip.fmFollow us on Instagram and Twitter!Theme music by Dorian LoveAdditional Music: Distant Daze by Zack FrankLinks to topics discussed in this episode:Jim's microdosing websiteSofia UniversityThe Psychedelic Explorer's GuidePsychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity (Ly et al, 2018)