Authored by Emma Schulman
FieldTrip
Fieldtrip is a Toronto-based psychedelics firm that offers psychedelic-assisted therapy. Their current stock price is $5.14, traded under FTRP. It is an early stage company, founded in April 2019 and entered the United States stock market this past summer. The firm is one of the leading authorities in the medical and scientific re-emergence of plant-based psychedelic enhanced therapies. They have been quickly expanding as the psychedelic industry is growing, with a growing revenue of $2.62 million. The company’s shares have offered investors returns exceeding 77% year-to-date and it has a market cap of over $360 million.
Their approach and treatment programs are based on accumulating evidence that support treating mental health disorders with psychedelics. During a typical clinic, patients wear eyeshades and listen to electronic music and Tibetan chanting, as they are administered six ketamine injections over the course of several weeks. A typical course of four sessions starts at $4,100, though some insurance companies reimburse patients for a portion of the cost.
Why Fieldtrip?
FTRP is a fast growing psychedelic company and is one of the top most competitive firms in the industry. They are among the first to take an integrated approach to psychedelic medicine and are also currently the global leader in the development and delivery of psychedelic therapies. They are the leader of an industry that, as discussed below, is about to boom.
Fieldtrip has been establishing itself as an innovator in the field. They are working on building digital tools that aid with psychedelic experiences, thus separating themselves from other competitors in the industry. Furthermore, Fieldtrip is rapidly expanding. They recently built psychedelic-assisted therapy centers in Seattle, Vancouver, and Fredericton.
The Psychedelic Industry
Mental health awareness is growing rapidly across the US, and the world. Our generation acknowledges the importance of addressing and treating mental health. A great deal of research has been done evaluating which treatments are safe and effective. Each year, 16 billion dollars is spent for anxiety disorder and depression treatment, and $238 billion is spent on mental health services. Unfortunately, despite all of the research, many of these treatments still induce bad side effects, such as weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, headaches, etc. Psychedelics, however, do not share many of these bad side effects.
According to a study by Data Bridge Market Research, the global market for psychedelics is growing and will reach a value of over $6 billion within the next five years. In 2019, it was $2 billion. This represents a CAGR of over 24% for the industry. The effectiveness of psychedelics and the growth in the industry has turned the heads of the biopharma sector. Giants such as Pfizer are beginning to look into psychedelic firms as there is a surge in demand for antidepressants and these firms could be a source of revenue. The psychedelic industry is just beginning to break out and is an industry to which Wall Street has paid little attention to.
Psychedelic-enhanced psychotherapy is quickly gaining traction in response to clinical research. Academic studies have provided compelling evidence in addressing the growing mental health crisis globally. At Williams College, the senior seminar in the fall of 2021 for the Neuroscience concentration was all about psychedelics. As more and more research is done on the effects of psychedelics, more and more people are accepting of the revolutionary effects psychedelics can have. Although under federal law it is a schedule 1 drug, psychedelics have started to make their way into the medicinal market.
Risks
Since Fieldtrip is a relatively upcoming company, there is high risk associated with it. In the short term, it is incredibly volatile and has to continuously compete with competitors in the industry. Furthermore, the psychedelic industry is not growing in a linear fashion. The medicinal usage of psychedelics is a new concept with more research coming out every day. Psychedelics are not socially accepted or even completely legalized.
However, political and social trends are moving towards acceptance. The nation’s top universities such as Yale, John Hopkins, and UCal Berkley are racing to set up psychedelic research centers, and investors are pouring millions of dollars into a pack of start-ups. Even governments are relaxing: Johns Hopkins Medicine won the first federal grant to study psilocybin, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would examine its legalization, and Seattle recently joined cities relaxing laws around plant-based psychedelics. Furthermore, Republicans, a group that has traditionally opposed the liberalization of drug laws, are starting to come around. In April 2021, the former Texas governor Rick Perry, citing the high rates of suicide among war veterans, called on his state’s legislators to support a Democratic-sponsored bill that would establish a psilocybin study for patients with PTSD. Thus, in the long run, Fieldtrip holds promise. While growth may not be as high as predicted, there is little thought that the psychedelic industry will fail. Since Fieldtrip is among the top and most competitive firms in the industry, there is a high chance that an investment now will lead to high returns in the future.
Furthermore, there is risk that the psychedelic industry could follow a similar path to that of medicinal marajuana-where the market did not perform as high as anticipated. But, marajuana and psychedelics have many underlying differences. Fieldtrip is more focused on clinical trials that seek to prove on a case-by-case basis that classic psychedelics can treat specific ailments. In addition, there is no plan for widespread recreational use. Many psychedelic companies serve an evolving ecosystem designed to personalize a patient’s experience at treatment centers. Overall, the psychedelic industry is bound to grow in the next few years. The main risk is how much the industry will grow, and if Fieldtrip will be the beneficiary of such growth or if they will ceed leadership to other competitors.
In conclusion
Now is the time to buy Fieldtrip-and hold onto it. Fieldtrip continues to expand, research, and innovate, helping outperform its competitors. While it is a part of a new industry, research done into psychedelics has proven its incredible potential. There is high potential for growth in the industry and Fieldtrip is among the top performing firms.
https://www.meetfieldtrip.com/home/default.aspx
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/13/veterans-ptsd-psychedelics-texas/
https://medicine.yale.edu/psychiatry/education/residency/interest/psychedelic_science_group/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/09/health/psychedelics-mdma-psilocybin-molly-mental-health.html