Issue No. 031

This issue is presented by

Hey there. Welcome back to another issue of Headlines, and happy first week of September. Can’t believe we’re already closing in on autumn. 🍂

QUICK HITS

• Brain train. McKinsey pens piece on better brain function; One Mind promotes Music Festival for Brain Health.

• Big bucks. Mental health spending surged more than 50% since the start of the pandemic. 

• Candyflipping. Researchers investigate the therapeutic benefits of softening the LSD jitters with MDMA. 

• High note. Cannabis and psychedelic use among US adults reached an all-time high in 2022.

• Patently obvious. Enveric filed a new US patent for anxiety therapeutics. 

• Settle the score. Allwell Behavioral Health agrees to pay $650K settlement for 2022 data breach. 

• All AIs on you. AI-based health assistant Together unveils vocal biomarker feature for mental health. [Re-read Issue No. 015: A Sixth Sense]

• Birds of a feather. The six models for living near friends — from easiest to hardest. 

• The kids are alright. Over 80% of teens self-reported improved hope and increased self-esteem after using mental health app BeMe.

NEWS & TRENDS

1) The death of meaning 🤝 The rise of psychedelics

The modern world is increasingly marked by the death of meaning. Long-standing beliefs and institutions, from religion to marriage, have been questioned and discarded. In many ways, nihilism is en vogue. At the same time, we’re experiencing a mental health crisis of a magnitude that “has not been measured since scientists started measuring mental health.” These twin phenomena, argue researchers, are not unrelated. 

Enter psychedelics. Offering mystical experiences characterized by salience, connectedness, and meaning, these substances are a direct counter to the neonihilism of the moment. And, as the researchers assert, the recent resurgence in psychedelics is not just about treating symptoms of mental health disorders — it's also a response to a deeper, existential plight that is coming to a head. 

2) Put a ring on it

Smart ring maker ŌURA and digital mental health startup Talkspace are joining forces on a first-of-its-kind partnership. Now, ŌURA members can share a detailed report of their personalized sleep data directly with their licensed therapist via Talkspace’s encrypted platform — users can even customize the report to show sleep quality, daily movement trends, and more from the past week, month, or 90 days.

The partnership points to a growing movement across mental health — one that looks to integrate wearable tech and leverage holistic, data-driven assessments to understand our emotional well-being. After all, mental wellness is downstream of many interlocking factors:   biological, socioenvironmental, and psychological. Why shouldn’t we be treating it as such?

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DEALS & DEBUTS

📈 Neumora Therapeutics, a developer of psychiatric medications, is filing for IPO and aiming to raise up to $100M to fund its phase 3 clinical trials for depression. → source

🇯🇵 Otsuka Pharmaceutical, a Tokyo-based healthcare company, announced plans to acquire Canadian psychedelic drug developer Mindset Pharma for CA$80M ($59.1M) in cash, marking Big Pharma’s first significant foray into psychedelic M&A. → source 

💼 Teale, a French employee mental health platform, secured a €10M ($11M) Series A led by Alter Equity and Bpifrance’s Digital Venture fund. → source

🍄 Silo Wellness, a psilocybin wellness retreat provider, announced a Letter of Intent (LOI) to acquire Jamaica-based NUGL/Kaya in a transaction valued at CA$43M ($32M). → source

🔬 Cybin, a psychedelic biotech company, announced plans to acquire Small Pharma Inc., a UK-based company advancing short-duration psychedelic therapies. → source

🪑 Two Chairs, a behavioral health platform, introduced Care Navigation, a platform aimed at enabling in-network guidance and referrals for patients requiring supplemental care/other care modalities, as well as its new group therapy offering. → source, source

🟠 Meditation giant Headspace is teaming up with Castell, a value-based care subsidiary of Utah’s Intermountain Healthcare, to expand access to virtual mental health services.→ source

📱 Whiteflag, a 24/7 mental health app, is launching a 90-day fundraising campaign through Kevin O'Leary-backed StartEngine.→ source

👩‍⚕️ Talkiatry, a national psychiatric care provider, is expanding its child and adolescent psychiatry services to 31 states, marking a significant step in making mental health care more accessible to younger populations.→ source

🎾 Venus Williams is collabing with Selena Gomez’s Wondermind on "Behind the Racquet," a docuseries focused on tennis and mental health. → source

🏈 Mindful Therapy Group, a collaborative network of nearly 1K independent mental health clinicians, is partnering with the Seattle Seahawks to promote mental well-being and provide resources for mental health.→ source

🔥 Modern Health, a global workplace mental health platform, announced Pathways, a high-touch 1:1 care offering designed to combat employee burnout.→ source  

WHAT I’M READING

• Peak therapy. One of the greatest paradoxes of the mental health industry — even as more and more people receive mental healthcare, our collective emotional well-being is getting steadily worse. What are the limitations of modern-day psychiatry? → TIME

That’s all for this week! 

See you next Sunday,

-Mel