Tim FerrissHe Started a Psychedelics Company. It Sold for $700M.
Tim Ferriss
Discovering Psychedelics Through a Book 0:00
At 54, he read Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind and it changed his view entirely. He realized psychedelics could help with PTSD, depression, and anxiety, something academic research already supported. While serving on Yale's board, he got involved with the Yale Center for Psychedelic Research, becoming one of its larger donors and connecting with researchers like John Krystal and Ben Kendi.
Moving From Donor to Founder 1:31
In 2021 he decided the field needed a for-profit phase, since getting one compound through the FDA costs roughly 200 to 250 million dollars, far more than nonprofit donations could cover. Working with Ben Kendi and Blake Mandel from his team, they settled on methylone, a lesser known compound, and started a company with Blake as CEO.
Why Methylone Over MDMA 3:33
Methylone offered practical advantages over MDMA. It can be taken weekly in trials, while MDMA depletes serotonin and loses effectiveness with frequent use. It also avoids the comedown some people feel with MDMA, and its shorter duration fits better with standard healthcare delivery. The company secured a 20 year patent covering PTSD, depression, and anxiety, though each indication still costs about 200 million dollars to pursue.
Learning From Early Industry Mistakes 5:00
Other psychedelic companies struggled by underestimating the cost of scaling four to six hour treatments, which required extra nurses and staff. Bundling psychotherapy with treatment also backfired, since FDA advisory committees had no standard way to evaluate psychotherapy and rejected it. He described preferring to be the second mouse that gets the cheese rather than the first mouse that gets smashed, learning from others' missteps before building his own approach.
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