Compass Pathways, or COMPASS Pathways, is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

pharmaceutical company The pharmaceutical industry is a Medicine, medical industry that discovers, develops, produces, and markets pharmaceutical goods such as medications and medical devices. Medications are then administered to (or Self-medicate, self-administered b ...

developing

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

s as potential medicines. Its main drug candidate,

psilocybin Psilocybin, also known as 4-phosphoryloxy-''N'',''N''-dimethyltryptamine (4-PO-DMT), is a natural product, naturally occurring tryptamine alkaloid and Investigational New Drug, investigational drug found in more than List of psilocybin mushroom ...

(COMP360), is currently in phase 3

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human subject research, human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel v ...

s for

treatment-resistant depression Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is often defined as major depressive disorder in which an affected person does not respond adequately to at least two different antidepressant medications at an adequate dose and for an adequate duration. Inad ...

. This candidate has received

breakthrough therapy Breakthrough therapy is a United States Food and Drug Administration designation that expedites drug development that was created by Congress under Section 902 of the 9 July 2012 Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. The FDA's "b ...

status from the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

(FDA). It is the most advanced psychedelic drug candidate in development besides Lykos Therapeutics's midomafetamine (MDMA). Compass Pathways is the largest company in the

psychedelic medicine ''Psychedelic Medicine'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed medical journal on the use of serotonergic psychedelics as therapeutic agents in medicine. Its editors-in-chief are Peter Hendricks (University of Alabama at Birmingham) and Charles D. Nich ...

industry and, in 2020, was the first psychedelic medicine company to be listed on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

. It has faced criticism for

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

ing psychedelic drugs and even certain

psilocybin mushroom Psilocybin mushrooms, or psilocybin-containing mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms or as shrooms, are a type of hallucinogenic mushroom and a polyphyletic informal group of fungi that contain the prodrug psilocybin, which turns into t ...

species. In October 2024, after the FDA rejected Lykos Therapeutics's MDMA for

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...

(PTSD)

New Drug Application The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) New Drug Application (NDA) is the vehicle in the United States through which drug sponsors formally propose that the FDA approve a new pharmaceutical for sale and marketing. Some 30% or less of initial ...

(NDA), Compass Pathways said that it would lay off 30% of its workforce and narrow its research focus. Compass Pathways has entered partnerships with several independent psychedelic academic scientists, including Jason Wallach, Hamilton Morris, and Adam Halberstadt among others, to develop novel psychedelic drugs for potential medical use. Wallach's lab is said to have sought

s for over 200novel compounds as of May 2024. Compass Pathways switched from being a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

to a for-profit company in 2016. The pharmaceutical company has been backed and funded by a number of tech entrepreneurs such as

Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in Facebook. According ...

References

External links

Compass Pathways Website
Pharmaceutical companies of England Psychedelic drug research Psychedelic pharmaceutical companies {{Med-company-stub

See also

References

External links