Cybin announced a new agreement with Fluence to support the streamlining and scaling of the company’s EMBARK facilitator training program in preparation for a multi-site, global Phase 3 trial of CYB003 (its proprietary deuterated psilocybin analog), which is being developed for the potential treatment of major depressive disorder ("MDD").

If you’re unfamiliar or new to JLS, Fluence is a psychotherapy training services provider that offers a suite of interactive programs to educate licensed professionals and advanced graduate students in psychedelic integration and psychedelic-assisted therapy.

It’s also one of our portfolio companies, and it’s been absolutely crushing it.

Since its inception, Fluence has trained therapists at roughly 50 different clinical trial sites in the U.S., Australia, the UK, Canada, and across the EU in the use of psilocybin and 5-MEO-DMT. In addition, the company has created eight psychedelic therapy manuals for 8 different drug-indication combinations.

Fluence is also producing scalable on-demand video and audio content for various projects, in addition to a series of on-demand continuing education programs for community-based clinicians to advance their knowledge of psychedelic therapies.

In Q1, the company grew sales by 41% YoY, doubled its total number of paying customers vs Q1, 2022, and signed its first international licensing agreement with Phaneros Institute, which is a non-profit organization led by Brazilian neuroscientist Eduardo Schenberg, PhD, focused on the development of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for mental health disorders, both in terms of clinical research as well as the education of mental health professionals.

Fluence has since translated two of its ketamine-assisted therapy video courses into Portuguese, with the intention of enrolling and training hundreds of Brazilian practitioners over the next 6-12 months.

And in the U.S., the company launched its first-ever psilocybin-assisted therapy video course, which was promoted at the recent Psychedelic Science 2023 Conference. Fluence also successfully launched its psilocybin-assisted therapy training program in Oregon with more than 60 customers enrolled thus far, each paying nearly $10,000 for the program.

Under the terms of this latest agreement with Cybin, Fluence will support Cybin in the selection and training of facilitators for the planned Phase 3 trial. Fluence will also create supplemental video content and provide asynchronous and synchronous training in service of augmenting and verifying facilitator competencies.

If you want to learn more about our investment in Fluence, or what this latest deal with Cybin means for the company, feel free to contact us directly at info@jls.fund.

The House Rules Committee advanced two amendments on psychedelics for a bill covering funding for the Department of Defense (DOD).

One amendment, sponsored by Reps. Morgan Luttrell and Dan Crenshaw, would provide $15 million in funding for the DOD to carry out “Psychedelic Medical Clinical Trials.”

Another from Crenshaw would require the Defense Health Agency to “submit a report to Congress on options to ensure that active-duty service members who are suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are able to participate in clinical trials under the Department of Veterans Affairs for the purposes of studying the effectiveness of psychedelic substances.”  Here’s more: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/house-committee-clears-psychedelics-research-and-marijuana-pharmaceutical-labeling-amendments-for-floor-votes/

A new survey of psychiatrists’ attitudes towards psychedelics was released, showing a “striking positive shift.”

The survey, which was conducted by researchers from Case Western Reserve University, Yale University School of Medicine, and Harvard Medical School, found that more than 80 percent of surveyed psychiatrists now hold strong to moderate beliefs that psychedelics have the potential to treat mental health disorders.

Compared to a similar survey conducted in 2016, researchers found “significantly increased optimism regarding the therapeutic promise of hallucinogens and decreased concern about risks.” Check it out: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/psymed.2023.0036

Did you know that some of the beneficial effects of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy are mediated through the microbiota-gut-brain axis?

The microbiota-gut-brain axis is the two-way communication avenue between the gut’s nervous system and the brain. Various signaling molecules, including neurotransmitters, hormones, and immunomodulatory factors form the basis of this information exchange highway.

The gut microbiota actually plays a central role in mental health by contributing to the production and integration of various metabolites, neurotransmitters, and neuromodulators, including serotonin and tryptamine, which relay chemical messages. Here’s more: https://www.the-scientist.com/features/natural-high-endogenous-psychedelics-in-the-gut-and-brain-71301

P.S. - On October 25th, our own Lindsay Hoover will be speaking at the SOCAP Global Impact Investing Conference in San Francisco. She’ll be discussing the intersection of impact investing and psychedelics, demonstrating how the psychedelics industry can generate significant returns while instigating positive change. You can check out the conference website here.