Thank you to everyone who attended our Virtual Investor Event on August 12th. If you missed it, visit our Investor Page to watch a recording.
Prior to the event, we asked attendees to submit questions for our senior management team. We had more questions than time so our CEO, Ben Lightburn, has answered a few more:
1. What is the one thing that needs to go right for Filament to be a big success?
BL: Legislative change. It’s necessary for all psychedelics – there currently is no legal way to distribute these much-needed compounds. Fortunately, we’re seeing a groundswell of support and recognition that these medicines can save lives and that the war on drugs has been a failure which we hope will drive change at a government level.
2. Can you tell us about upcoming catalysts for Filament?
BL: The most important upcoming catalyst for Filament is our initiation of the first-ever natural psychedelic clinical trials in partnership with the Translational Psychedelic Research Program at UCSF. These trials will prove that it is possible to get natural psychoactive substances into pharmaceutical grade candidates, and administer them to human subjects, gaining evidence for their safety and efficacy.
3. How difficult would it be for you to triple production capacity?
BL: Not difficult – we could triple production capacity without any significant capital expenditure.
4. How do you know that you will be able to standardize natural extracts when no one else has?
BL: We know that we will be able to because we have done it – our team is creating standardized natural extracts every day in our lab. From what we’ve seen in the literature and reports from other companies, we know that people have challenges with producing consistent, stable, high-quality extracts. Through our research, we’ve discovered the reasons why others have encountered these challenges and we’ve been able to design processes that solve for them. I don’t want to give away too much, but I will say that ultimately the key is in purification.
5. Where do you see the biggest opportunity for Filament Health?
BL: There is no rule that psilocybin is the best psychedelic compound, and there is a strong possibility that the winner in the race of various psychedelic compounds has yet to be properly clinically tested. I also believe that there is an overwhelmingly high chance that this compound will be found in nature, which is why Filament’s natural approach to psychedelics is so promising. I’m excited about the vast untapped potential of all natural psychedelic substances and we are leaders in terms of the ability to harness that potential.
