Six psychedelic drug companies aiming to revolutionize mental health treatment

Psychedelic drugs have the potential to become an effective treatment for crippling mental health conditions such as depression. In this article, we take a look at six of the top psychedelic companies leading their particular niches in the field of psychedelic medicines. 

For decades, research into the therapeutic properties of psychedelic drugs was almost snuffed out as recreational use of the substances was banned in the U.S. and Europe. In recent years, however, an emerging industry is now coalescing around the potential of hallucinogenic compounds such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, and 3,4-methylenedioxy methamphetamine (MDMA) to treat mental health conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  

While there are already a number of approved approaches to treating depression, many only last a short time, cause side effects, and can’t help all patients. Psychedelic drugs are increasingly seen as a potential long-lasting alternative for patients who are left behind by existing approaches.  

One of the first psychedelic drugs to be approved in the U.S. for treating a mental health indication was a nasal spray form of the drug ketamine in 2019. Branded as Spravato and marketed by Janssen, the drug was greenlit for treatment-resistant depression. However, the drug also carries risks of adverse effects, including high blood pressure, sedation, and the potential for drug abuse. 

The hunt is now on for psychedelic compounds that are capable of treating mental health disorders long-term with fewer side effects than current treatments.  

Atai Life Sciences  

• Headquarters: Germany 
• Lead candidate: BPL-003 
• Recent news: Raised $50 million in a private placement 

Atai Life Sciences was set up in 2018 in response to what the founders saw as a lack of innovation in the mental health treatment landscape, along with growing opportunities surrounding the development of psychedelic medicines and digital health technology.  

The firm operates with many smaller companies under its umbrella. For example, it owns the psychedelics companies EmpathBio, Revixia, and Viridia. It also has stakes in other players, including Compass Pathways, another psychedelic drug company included on this list. By working as a wide decentralized network of companies, Atai aims to streamline internal processes to allow its founders to spend more time on progressing their research. 

The most advanced program listed in Atai’s pipeline is a candidate called BPL-003, which is an intranasal formulation of mebufotenin benzoate – a type of psychedelic – developed by Beckley Psytech. The two companies joined forces in January 2024 to accelerate the development of BPL-003 and ELE-101, another of Beckley’s candidates, and, most recently, in June, it was announced that they had entered into a definitive merger agreement, with the combined company operating under the name Atai Beckley. According to the press release, this transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025.  

In July, a phase 2b study of BPL-003 met its primary and secondary endpoints, with the candidate demonstrating rapid, robust, and durable antidepressant effects with a single dose. The press release for the announcement stated that, with these positive phase 2b results, the pre-agreed success criteria for the proposed strategic combination between Atai and Beckley Psytech had been achieved, and the strategic combination is now expected to progress to the Atai shareholder approval stage. 

To finance its drug development and business operations, Atai Life Sciences has raised a considerable amount of funding. Most recently, the company closed a $63.25 million public offering in February 2025 and announced a $50 million private placement in July 2025, which it said will be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital and to advance the clinical development of its product candidates and programs.  

Compass Pathways  

• Headquarters: United Kingdom  
• Lead candidate: COMP360 
• Recent news: Achieved primary endpoint in phase 3 trial of COMP360 for treatment-resistant depression 

A pioneer in the psychedelic drug field, the company Compass Pathways is developing a synthetic form of psilocybin, the main psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms. It has been suggested that this hallucinogenic drug can rewire the brain to treat depression long-term after just one or two doses. In Compass Pathways’ lead program, the drug is given during supervised therapy sessions, where patients are provided a capsule containing psilocybin, an eye mask to help them focus, and a specially designed music playlist. 

The company’s psilocybin therapy, called COMP360, is currently in phase 3 of development for treatment-resistant depression. In June, Compass announced that it had achieved its primary endpoint in the first of two phase 3 trials evaluating the candidate, demonstrating that a single 25 mg dose of the drug reduced the severity of depression symptoms by 3.6 points on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) score at week six when compared with placebo. There were also no unexpected safety findings and no clinically meaningful imbalance in suicidal ideation between treatment and placebo arms.  

Compass expects to share 26-week data from this first phase 3 study once all patients have completed part A of the second phase 3 study. Meanwhile, 26-week data from the second study is expected in the second half of 2026. The psychedelic company is also investigating COMP360 for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and anorexia nervosa.  

In January, Compass priced a $150 million public offering, saying that it intended to use the net proceeds to help fund the ongoing phase 3 trials of COMP360.  

Enveric Biosciences  

• Headquarters: United States 
• Lead candidate: EB-003 
• Recent news: EB-003 demonstrated positive effects in a preclinical model for post-traumatic stress disorder. 

Enveric Biosciences is dedicated to developing novel neuroplastogenic therapeutics for treating depression, anxiety, and addiction disorders. These are essentially psychedelic-inspired compounds that offer the mental health benefits of psychedelics, just without the trip. Leveraging its unique discovery and development platform, Psybrary, Enveric has created a robust portfolio of new chemical entities for specific mental health indications.  

The company’s current focus is to advance its lead candidate, EB-003, towards clinical trials for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, while also out-licensing other patented platform drug candidates to third-party licensees advancing non-competitive market strategies for patient care.  

EB-003 works by targeting the serotonergic receptors to induce neuroplasticity. It is currently in preclinical development, with investigational new drug (IND)-enabling activities planned through the remainder of 2025. In 2024, the company announced results indicating the potential for the drug candidate to be delivered via oral administration with significant brain exposure in rodent models at potential therapeutic doses. More recently, in July 2025, the drug demonstrated positive effects in a preclinical model for post-traumatic stress disorder.  

Enveric also has a second candidate in its pipeline called EB-002, which is a next-generation synthetic prodrug of psilocin and targets psychiatric disorders. In November 2024, in a strategic move, Enveric signed a definitive license agreement with MycoMedica to out-license the drug, enabling the company to fully allocate its operations and development resources to the advancement of EB-003, while creating excellent potential for generating longer-term revenue from EB-002. 

In January 2025, Enveric announced the closing of a $10 million registered direct offering, which it said it intended to use for working capital and general corporate purposes. 

GH Research  

• Headquarters: Ireland 
• Lead candidate: GH001 
• Recent news: Priced a $150 million public offering 

GH Research is researching the antidepressant potential of the drug mebufotenin (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, or 5-MeO-DMT). This molecule occurs naturally in several species of plants and even a species of toad. 

GH Research’s lead product candidate, GH001, is an inhaled form of mebufotenin. The company has so far completed two phase 1 clinical trials in healthy volunteers and a phase 1/2 trial in patients with treatment-resistant depression, as well as phase 2 open-label trials in patients with bipolar II disorder and postpartum depression.  

In February 2025, the psychedelic company announced that the primary endpoint was met in a phase 2b trial of GH001 in treatment-resistant depression, with the patients who received the drug seeing an average 15.2 point reduction on the MADRS at day eight, compared to an increase of 0.3 points among the patients who received placebo. Meanwhile, the drug also achieved the study’s secondary endpoints of showing clinically and statistically significant improvements on a clinical-rated scale tool, a scale of anxiety, and a quality of life questionnaire, when compared to placebo.  

GH Research jumped on the psychedelics funding trend in April 2021 when it raised a series B round of $125 million. In June 2021, the firm went public, bagging $160 million in an initial public offering (IPO) to fund its clinical development activities. And, most recently, in February 2025, the company priced a $150 million public offering.  

MindBio Therapeutics  

• Headquarters: Australia 
• Lead candidate: MB22001 
• Recent news: MB22001 was found to have reduced symptoms of depression in a phase 2a trial 

MindBio Therapeutics is pioneering psychedelic microdosing to provide safe, effective, and scalable treatments for conditions such as depression, anxiety, and other psychological challenges. The psychedelic company’s lead candidate, MB22001, is a proprietary and self-titratable form of LSD, which has been formulated for safe, take-home use by patients suffering from depression and is currently being trialed in patients at home. 

According to the company, its phase 1 and 2 take-home trials have shown that the medicine in small doses can be taken safely and effectively by patients in the community, subsequently allowing them to get on with their day with minimal disruption.  

Last year, MB22001 was found to have reduced symptoms of depression in a phase 2a trial, as patients experienced a 60% reduction in depressive symptoms and 53% had a complete remission from depression. The drug candidate is now being tested in a phase 2b trial for major depressive disorder, expected to finish later this year. Furthermore, it is also being evaluated in a phase 2b trial in cancer patients dealing with end-of-life depression. 

MindMed  

• Headquarters: United States 
• Lead candidate: MM120 
• Recent news: Dosed first patient in phase 3 study of MM120 in major depressive disorder 

MindMed was co-founded by the entrepreneur J.R. Rahn, who suffered from mental health problems and was interested in the Silicon Valley trend of improving focus by microdosing on psychedelic drugs. The company is primarily testing the benefits of the hallucinogenic drug LSD with professional supervision for the treatment of mental health conditions such as generalized anxiety disorder, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder.  

The psychedelic company’s lead candidate is called MM120, and is an optimized form of LSD that acts as a partial agonist at specific serotonin receptors, causing its distinctive transient perceptual and emotional effects. The drug works by increasing connections between areas of the brain that are not normally connected, enabling changes that could treat depression, anxiety, and other brain health disorders. 

In January 2025, MindMed announced that the first patient had been dosed in a second phase 3 trial of MM120 in generalized anxiety disorder. And, more recently, in April, the company also said that it had dosed the first patient in another phase 3 study of MM120, this time in major depressive disorder.   

MindMed was one of the first psychedelics developers to go public, listing on the Canadian stock exchange in 2020. The company then went public on the Nasdaq in April 2021. In its most recent fundraising activity in August 2024, it priced a $75 million public offering.  

Psychedelic drugs market poised for further growth 

The psychedelic drugs market is poised for substantial growth, with an expected increase of $1.94 billion between 2024 and 2029, which would mean an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.3%. This anticipated surge is due to an increasing prevalence of mental health disorders, the gradual acceptance and legalization of psychedelic substances, and enhanced government programs aimed at mental health improvements. 

As can be seen from this list, companies are increasingly focused on developing next-generation therapies for psychiatric disorders, with psychedelics becoming more prominent within the mental health field, despite some concerns over their hallucinogenic properties. Additionally, the emphasis on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and expanding therapeutic applications for psychedelics is expected to contribute to substantial market demand in the coming years.