Compass Pathways' psilocybin data lifts psychedelic drug stocks

Compass Pathways reported positive findings from two late-stage studies of its synthetic version of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, and said it plans to soon meet with the Food and Drug Administration to discuss submitting COMP360 for review, with an approval application slated for sometime between October and December. Shares of the company subsequently spiked more than 50%, while the stock prices of at least four other psychedelics developers were up by mid-single digits to low-double digits at certain points throughout the day.

Providing a first look at the second, twice-as-large trial, Compass said its therapy was once again well-tolerated and effective. The experiment assessed two doses of COMP360 against a far smaller dose that acted as a control group. Six weeks into the trial’s treatment period, patients on the highest dose scored an average 3.8 points lower than those in the control group, on a 60-point scale where bigger scores signal more severe depression symptoms.

Compass unveiled more results Tuesday, including that a second dose of its therapy helped a significant portion of one subset of patients go into remission. Initial data from the first of those trials, which pitted one dose of the compound against a placebo in treatment-resistant depression, came last summer.

The stock prices of other psychedelics developers also moved higher. GH Research and Helus Pharma saw the biggest gains of nearly 12%, while shares of AtaiBeckley and Definium Therapeutics increased between 5% and 8% at their peak.

• AtaiBeckley: opened at $3.68, high $3.88, close $3.80.
• Definium Therapeutics: opened at $15.88, high $17.22, close $16.90.
• GH Research: opened at $14.84, high $16.61, close $15.99.
• Helus Pharma: opened at $6.40, high $7.15, close $6.76.

GH has been developing an inhaled version of mebufotenin, and last year announced trial results indicating the therapy was fast and effective against treatment-resistant depression. Atai has a mebufotenin-based compound being evaluated in this setting as a nasal spray. Helus has been trying to craft new molecules that act on the same brain receptors as psilocybin and DMT to treat conditions like major depressive disorder or generalized anxiety disorder. Definium has a synthetic derivative of LSD that has progressed to Phase 3 studies for those same two indications.