Psychedelic therapy, (not so?) far out
Everybody picked up a new hobby during the COVID pandemic – for some it was perfecting the sourdough loaf, and for others it was exploring psychedelics. But before you accuse us of channeling our inner Jerry Garcia (not to be confused with Cherry Garcia), we’re talking about psychedelics as a legitimate medical treatment for behavioral health conditions like treatment resistant depression and PTSD, and it turns out that there’s plenty of funding running toward this space. Spravato, a prescription version of the psychedelic ketamine, was approved by the FDA in 2019, and venture capitalists have been working on how to make billions off this controversial treatment ever since. Previously seen as a street drug, emerging research is demonstrating that ketamine can play a big role in recovery from treatment resistant depression, and with this new-found legitimacy, a new market is emerging.
You might have heard about Field Trip Health, an organization that operates treatment centers to administer ketamine assisted therapy. And, others like Mindbloom and Nue Life which will deliver ketamine assisted therapy to your door, facilitated via virtual therapy and guidance. Perhaps most interesting to employers is Enthea, who is “Building [the] country’s first psychedelic healthcare provider network”, and are specifically targeting the employer market to provide a benefit that increases access to ketamine assisted therapy. When we planned to talk about network innovation in 2023, we didn’t think it would take quite this shape!
The Big Picture: For now, the dollars being invested here are relatively small (a few million here and there to these organizations in various rounds of funding), but this is a space employers should watch as demand for innovative accessible behavioral health care continues. We know that workers under age 35, and those who identify as LGBTQ+ highly prioritize mental health support from their employers, so we expect this space to continue to grow as employers look for new ways to provide access to novel behavioral health treatments.