Journey Colab, a start-up chaired by the chief executive of OpenAI Sam Altman, is partnering with All Points North, a luxury rehab clinic, to tap into the promise that psychedelic drugs have shown in clinical trials.
Journey Colab aims to make them broadly available to those with mental health and drug-use disorders.
Classic psychedelic drugs can retune brain activity by activating receptors for serotonin, a chemical that regulates mood, making the brain more open to different perspectives.
- Companies developing psychedelic drugs or related services have raised over $560M in venture capital since 2019.
- The regulatory landscape is shifting: Oregon legalized psilocybin in 2020, and Colorado will allow adults to use it in licensed facilities starting in 2024.
- Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. Rand Paul proposed legislation last month to remove regulatory barriers for certain psychedelics used in research.
- The leader in bringing psychedelics to the market is "Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies" (MAPS) nonprofit which has raised more than $130M since its founding in 1986.
The Drug Enforcement Administration lists MDMA and psilocybin in the most restrictive category of drugs despite their potential for treating mental health disorders and addiction.
