Eleusis

Eleusis is a clinical-stage life sciences company that studies and develops psychedelic drugs for therapeutic use. Since 2013 the company has been researching psychedelics and is now developing ELE-Psilo (psilocybin) for depression that is in Phase I. Beyond mental health, Eleusis is also looking at immunomodulatory and neuroprotective medicines based on psychedelics.

Eleusis Benefit Corporation

The company works on both drug development and care delivery. In the former, they aim to unlock “the therapeutic potential of serotonin 2A receptor agonists, commonly referred to as psychedelics, through the mitigation and management of psychoactivity“. In the latter, they are “dedicated to developing a comprehensive care delivery platform to enable safe, effective, and cost-efficient psychoactive drug therapy.” For this, they are developing a platform.

The company, founded in 2013, has raised $14.5 million in two rounds of funding. The company was also funded (in part) by Synaptic Ventures. Recently, in January 2022, they have merged with the Special Purpose Acquisition Corporation (SPAC), Spike Capital, to be listed on the Nasdaq at a valuation north of $400 million.

Eleusis has recently completed a Phase I clinical trial assessing the safety and tolerability of varying doses of LSD within a novel intervention paradigm. Participants received 50 (n = 3), 75 (n = 7), 100 (n = 3) LSD, 50 µg followed by 75 µg LSD (n = 9) 1 week apart, or placebo followed by a 75 µg LSD (n = 10) 1 week apart with 28 per cent of participants experiencing a mild adverse event. Additionally, participants were interviewed to assess their expectations, experiences, and thoughts on the safety and efficacy of a trial with LSD. Participants endorsed support for the clinical utility of LSD in controlled environments, expressing the belief that LSD is safe and has the potential to help others.

Eleusis is planning to conduct a trial later in 2022 with their novel psilocybin candidate ELE-Psilo in depressed patients. This compound will be administered intravenously in the form of psilocybin’s active metabolite psilocin and safety, tolerability and efficacy will be assessed.

News

• Eleusis sheds light on psychedelics that relieve asthma in rats with no mental effects (Fierce Biotech, August 2020)
• Researcher Charles Nichols Studies the Impact of Psychedelic Substances on Inflammation (Lucid News, July 2020)
• Eleusis Draws on Research Into Psychedelics To Develop New Medicines for Inflammation (Lucid News, July 2020)
• Eleusis Announces Published Preclinical Research Revealing Long-Lasting Antidepressant-Like Effects of Psychedelics When Compared to Ketamine in Animals (March 2020)
• How do depressed rats respond to psychedelics? New data offer insight into the human experience (Endpoints News, March 2020)
• Microdosed LSD: Finally A Breakthrough For Alzheimer’s Disease? (Forbes, February 2020)
• Transforming psychedelics into mainstream medicines (STAT, January 2020)
• Eleusis Announces Phase 1 Trial Results of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) in Healthy Older Volunteers, Potential to Evaluate as Disease Modifying Therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease (December 2019)

The current stock listing is for Silver Spike Capital, a SPAC that will merge with Eleusis to form the (to be updated) ELEU stock (Nasdaq).