Field Trip Health Ltd (FTRP) is the latest psychedelic drug company to list its shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE). The shares began trading on Tuesday, October 6th. The transaction was structured as a reverse merger with the former Newton Energy Corporation. 

The stock opened at around $3 per share before settling at $2.70 by market close. That’s significantly higher than a reported private placement in Field Trip at $2 per share in August. 

Similar to the recent Compass Pathways IPO, investors seem to be excited to gain exposure to the psychedelics market. 

As the founder of Field Trip, Ronan Levy, recently told Psychedelic Invest, “Field Trip is creating what we would describe as a vertically integrated psychedelics company”.

Field Trip Health has an aggressive rollout strategy with plans to open five clinics in a year and 75 clinics by 2023. Revenue growth will be led initially by three recently-launched clinics in Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles. They have also secured partnerships with psychologists, doctors, and medical centers to build a strong referral network in North America.

At this time, Field Trip intends to offer patient-focused treatments via the operation of medical clinics, which guide patients through ketamine-enhanced psychotherapy. They also plan to provide psychedelic-enhanced psychotherapy and psychedelic-integration psychotherapy when using a broader range of psychedelics becomes legal. 

How It Works

Right now, Ketamine is the only psychedelic drug allowed to be prescribed by health care practitioners in Canada and the United States. The company’s clinic-based treatments will combine the administration of Ketamine with psychotherapy sessions. These sessions are conducted with medical and psychological support and may include tools that enhance therapy, such as music.

Field Trip plans to use the six-step treatment protocol used by its Toronto Clinic for all its clinics when using psychedelic based therapy:

  • First, the patient must be referred by their primary care physician for Ketamine based therapy.
  • Second, Field Trip’s medical team will review the patient’s medical history to ensure no immediate contraindications.
  • Third, patients will then consult with one of the psychiatrists operating in their chosen clinic location to assess whether the combination of psychedelics and psychotherapy might be a suitable treatment option.
  • Fourth, patients will undergo a second screening to ensure their physical health is suitable for psychedelic psychotherapy and a treatment plan will be developed.
  • Fifth, once the treatment plan is approved, patients will meet with a psychotherapist to prepare for the session.
  • Finally, the patient has a dosing session where they use the psychedelic drug as part of their therapy.

The standard ketamine-enhanced psychotherapy program involves three sequential blocks, each consisting of two ketamine exploratory therapy sessions followed by one integration session.

  • In the exploratory sessions, licensed psychotherapists help patients understand their experience. 
  • During the integration session, psychotherapists help the patient combine their experiences with clinical psychology techniques to help drive habit change, outlook, and mindset improvements.

Analyzing Field Trip Discovery

Field Trip’s research division, Field Trip Discovery, is also opening a botanical research facility in conjunction with University of West Indies along with Dr. Rupika Delgoda, Executive Director of the Natural Products Institute at UWI. The research at this facility will explore the cultivation of psilocybin-producing mushrooms and the identification, isolation, and characterization of active substances in mushrooms and related fungi.

The research location in Jamaica is suitable for psilocybin research. Unlike in the United States and Canada, psilocybin is not considered a dangerous drug in Jamaica. There are no legal hurdles to be met to conduct the research.

Field Trip Discovery is also developing novel, patented, regulated medicines targeting the serotonin 5HT2A receptor, which is believed to be the primary receptor involved in psychedelic experiences and responsible for the use of these substances to treat mental disorders.

Their first molecule, FT-104, is a synthetic psychedelic molecule that Filed Trip believes might be a commercially viable alternative to naturally derived substances.

Dr. Nathan Bryson is the person in charge at Field Trip Discovery. Dr. Bryson has 25-year experience in pharmaceutical development, including stints as Chief Scientific Officer at Cynapsus Therapeutics and Acerus Pharmaceuticals. He has a BSc in Chemistry from Auburn University and a Ph.D. in Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As the research progresses, Field Trip can begin the long process of submitting their psilocybin based therapeutic products for the approval and testing process in Canada and the United States.

Furthering the Psychedelic Experience

Field Trip has also designed an app that can be used by those unable to access clinics for guiding a conscious-expanding treatment program. 

The Trip App features mood tracking, personalized music, trip record-keeping, guided journaling, voice recording, and mindfulness content. The Trip App is functional and operational right now and Field Trip is currently obtaining feedback from a select set of users before a broader public launch later this month.

To wrap it all up, the CEO, Chairman, and President of Field Trip all have extensive experience setting up similar operations in the cannabis industry having been active with Aurora Cannabis (NYSE: ACB), Canvas Rx, and Trait Biosciences.

While Field Trip is the latest psychedelic company to list its shares on the CSE, it certainly will not be the last. The potential profits from this new industry could be as large as those seen by early investors in cannabis.