Welcome to Psychedelic Alpha.

Independent data-driven reporting, analysis and commentary on the psychedelics space: from business and drug development through to policy reform and culture.

Plus incubation, consultancy, and advisory for this emerging field. ∎

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Open access data on psychedelic policy reform, patents and drug development activity.

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Our latest insights

Dispatch from Breaking Convention 2025: Insights from Europe’s Largest Psychedelic Research Conference (Part 1)

April 29, 2025

The UK’s seventh biennial international conference on psychedelic consciousness welcomed researchers, clinicians and delegates to the University of Exeter from 17–19 April. In this first instalment, we dive into ketamine’s path into public healthcare, efficient and ethical trial designs, overlooked risks in the underground psychedelic scene, and whether new modalities of care can avoid repeating psychiatry’s historic mistakes.

Pα+ Psychedelic Bulletin #194: Make-or-Break Moment Looms for Compass; RFK Jr. Discusses LSD Use; Europe’s Next Chapter in Psychedelic Therapy Begins in Barcelona

April 25, 2025

Europe’s Next Chapter in Psychedelic Therapy Begins in Barcelona •
Make-or-Break Moment Looms for Compass Pathways • Makary Outlines Vision for Faster Drug Approvals • RFK Jr. Details Teenage Acid Trip That Preceded Years of Addiction • Enthea Ventures into Oregon’s Psilocybin Services • A Neuroimmune Theory of Psychedelic Action? • Pilot Study Explores Psilocybin for Mood Dysfunction in Parkinson’s Disease • and more…

Psychedelic Funding Update: Q1 2025

April 22, 2025

Q1 2025 saw roughly $350M flow into the psychedelics industry, the majority of which accrued to a trio of publicly-trader drug developers. Explore key trends, private vs. public dynamics, and what Compass Pathways’ upcoming Phase 3 results could mean for the remainder of 2025.

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INCUBATION & GROWTH

Entrepreneurs and Startups

Whether you’re at the idea-formation stage or raising early-stage funding, we’re here to help across the entire psychedelic value chain and company life-cycle.

ADVISORY & CONSULTANCY

Investors and Corporates

We help investors and corporates of all stripes understand and support the psychedelics space: from syndicates and VCs through to institutions.

INSIGHTS & ANALYSIS

Psychedelic Insiders and the Curious

Join our newsletter to stay abreast of the rapidly emergent psychedelics industry: from clinical trials and patents through to healing centres and decriminalisation.

The Psychedelic Renaissance

After a half-century of prohibition, psychedelics are once again entering the mainstream.

Today’s so-called “psychedelic renaissance” is represented by a seemingly exponential increase in research and development activity, billions of dollars of funding, psychedelic policy reform initiatives and successes across the world, and changing public perceptions. ∎

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials involving psychedelics started, per year

Phase 3 trials of MDMA-assisted therapy have been completed, with Phase 3 study of psilocybin underway.

$4+ billion

Invested in public and private psychedelic companies since 2020.

Psychedelic policy reforms are gaining pace at the federal, state and local level in the U.S. and internationally.

80.9%

of psychiatrists agreed that psychedelics show promise in treating psychiatric disorders.

Barnett et al., 2023

On “Alpha”

‘Alpha’, in the investing world, refers to an excess return on investment relative to a benchmark. But we broaden the definition of alpha on both ends to include more than just economic returns on more than just economic investments.

Instead, we conceptualise alpha as the excess return on myriad investments that people may make in the present and future of psychedelics: beyond economic capital, people might invest time, energy, and effort, for example. And that excess return might not be (purely) financial, it might also be realised through a more impactful treatment paradigm for mental health, for example, where the ‘benchmark’ is the inadequate status quo.

All this to say, we’re not only for investors. In fact, most of our readers aren’t: many of them are practitioners, regulators, entrepreneurs, and so on. ∎