Delix to synthesize psychedelic drugs

A Boston-based start-up, Delix Therapeutics, has raised $70 million in series A financing to develop therapies inspired by psychedelics for neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. The company is part of a growing movement to repurpose recreational drugs into mainstream medicine, as psilocybin emerges as a promising experimental therapy for major depressive disorder. However, many clinical trials of psychedelics require trained psychotherapists to guide patients through drug-induced hallucinations. Delix aims to create psychedelic-inspired compounds that heal without hallucinations, an approach based on work from a neuroscientist at the University of California, Davis whose 2018 study in animals showed that multiple compounds could promote neural plasticity without hallucinogenic effects.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Delix Therapeutics has raised $70 million in series A financing to develop therapies inspired by psychedelics to treat neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. The Boston-based start-up joins a list of more than a dozen drug companies developing psychedelic-based therapies for mental illnesses . CEO Mark Rus says Delix is part of a "psychedelic renaissance," in which doctors, scientists, and biotech investors are hoping to repurpose recreational drugs into mainstream medicine. The magic mushroom–derived compound psilocybin, for instance, is emerging as a promising experimental therapy for major depressive disorder. But many clinical trials of psychedelics require trained psychotherapists to help guide patients through their drug-induced hallucinations. "We need new approaches," Rus says. Delix aims to create psychedelic-inspired compounds that heal without hallucinations. The idea comes from David E. Olson, a neuroscientist and medicinal chemist at the University of California, Davis. In 2018, his lab published a study in animals showing that multiple