MindMed's stock boosted by positive data in trial of LSD as treatment for anxiety disorder

By Ciara Linnane

Phase 2 trial showed statistically significant improvement by week four

Mind Medicine Inc.' stock surged 6.5% Thursday, after the company said a Phase 2 trial testing LSD as a treatment for generalized anxiety disorder met its main goal, showing a statistically significant improvement in scores by week four compared to placebo.

The trial of MM-120 was administered as a single dose in a monitored clinical setting with no additional therapeutic intervention. It was scored based on the Hamilton Anxiety rating scale and showed a reduction of 21.3 points, or a 7.6-point improvement over placebo, for a 100 mg dose.

The treatment was well tolerated with mostly mild-to-moderate adverse events that occurred the day a dose was administered.

"We are excited by the strong positive results for MM-120 in GAD, particularly given that this is the first study to assess the standalone drug effects of MM-120 in the absence of any psychotherapeutic intervention," said Robert Barrow, CEO of MindMed, in a statement.

"These promising findings represent a major step forward in our goal to bring a paradigm-shifting treatment to the millions of patients who are profoundly impacted by GAD."

The company is now planning to hold an end-of-Phase 2 meeting with the Food and Drug Administration in the first half of 2024 and expects to advance the treatment to a Phase 3 trial.

MindMed (MNMD) said in April that a separate trial testing LSD as a treatment for major depressive disorder, or MDD, also met its main goal.

The trial involving 61 patients showed "rapid, durable and beneficial effects" of LSD in mitigating the symptoms of MDD, the company said in a statement.

The high dose regimen involved giving patients 100 ug on the first dosing day, followed four weeks later by a 200 ug dose. The primary endpoint was to show statistically and clinically significant improvements using the clinician-rated Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, or IDS, scores six weeks after dosing compared with the control group.

The research was conducted by Prof. Matthias Liechti and Dr. Felix Mueller, MindMed collaborators at University Hospital Basel and the University Hospital of Psychiatry.

The data has direct relevance to MindMed's MM-120 program as a treatment for GAD, the company said at the time.

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Other companies seeking to develop therapies using psychedelics were also higher Thursday. Atai Life Sciences N.V. (ATAI) was up 7% and Compass Pathways PLC (CMPS) was up 6%.

Mindmed's stock is up 58% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 22.6%.

-Ciara Linnane

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12-14-23 1239ET

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