Ben Lightburn: Clinical-stage Natural Psychedelic Drug Development Company

Filament Health is a clinical-stage natural psychedelic drug development company. Our mission is to get safe, natural psychedelics into the hands of everyone who needs them, as soon as possible.

Tell us about yourself?

I’ve spent most of my career as an entrepreneur developing and commercializing novel extraction technologies – meaning processes that remove desirable compounds from plant matter.

These technologies are powerful because they can be applied to a range of natural compounds, many of which have profound effects on human health.

After watching developments in the psychedelic industry, I founded Filament Health because I recognized that no one was focusing seriously on the natural side of psychedelics.

My background in botanical extraction technologies uniquely positioned me to explore this gap in the market. I knew that I had the experience necessary to effectively develop natural psychedelics and improve access to much-needed substances for mental health treatments.

If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?

I’d remind myself that as an entrepreneur, much of your success comes from believing that you can do things other people think are impossible. Over the past two years, I’ve often been told that our mission at Filament isn’t possible.

But trusting one’s own conviction allows an entrepreneur to push forward even when no one else believes in the idea.

This is especially true in the alternative health space and is part of the entrepreneur’s dilemma – you have to get used to people telling you that your ideas will fail, even when they are experts in your field.

What problem does your business solve?

We are mission-driven to address the global mental health crisis. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide struggle with depression, anxiety, and addiction. In the United States alone, US$280B was spent on mental health treatments in 2020.

We’re only beginning to understand the effects of the pandemic on mental health, but we do know that numbers of people fighting mental health battles are ballooning at an alarming rate.

Set against this backdrop, there are over 130 active clinical trials globally that are seeking to demonstrate that psychedelics represent a potentially far healthier, more effective option than existing treatments.

This is where Filament Health comes in. Psilocybin has shown great promise in treating the conditions listed above, plus a host of others.

Filament is entering its leading natural drug candidates, including psilocybin and its pro-drug, psilocin, into FDA clinical trials, in an effort to combat conditions like depression and to offer those in need with a new treatment option.

Our drug candidates will be the first-ever naturally-sourced psychedelic compounds to be administered in FDA trials.

Not only will these trials investigate the efficacy of these medicines in treating conditions like depression, they will aim to show efficacy of botanical drug candidates over synthetic candidates.

Botanical drugs contain combinations of compounds, more closely mirroring psychoactive plant and fungi species in their natural forms, which could prove to be more beneficial than a single, isolated psychoactive compound.

What is the inspiration behind your business?

Nearly everybody on earth has a personal story about themselves, a family member, or a friend that has struggled with mental health or addiction, myself included.

The mental health crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time, particularly with the COVID-19 pandemic. Natural psychedelics have the potential to help alleviate the suffering of people dealing with many different mental health conditions.

What is your magic sauce?

We are an exclusively natural psychedelic drug development company. In other words, we are solely focused on creating natural psychedelic drugs.

Naturally-derived psychedelics are produced by extracting and purifying compounds derived from plants and fungi, yielding measurable and standardized end products. In contrast, synthetic derivatives are single-compound formulations developed in a laboratory.

Furthermore, natural psychedelics have numerous potential benefits. For example there are no harmful chemicals or byproducts caused by our production process, and consumers have a noted preference for natural products – people generally prefer coffee or tea to synthetic caffeine pills.

Through natural extraction, we may also be able to prove the Entourage Effect, whereby unknown compounds within plants and fungi combine with psychedelic compounds to provide further benefit. You can read more about the Entourage Effect via: https://filament.health/the-entourage-effect/

What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?

Imagine a world in which everyone can access substances which can potentially alleviate suffering. Current treatments for mental health conditions are ineffective, poorly tolerated, and have a laundry list of side effects.

We are creating medicines that could bring us closer to a world in which millions of people feel more connected to themselves, their families, their society, and with nature. The statistics above speak for themselves.

Even a small dent in some of these numbers is something that we are determined to achieve at Filament Health, and that we know will have a very positive impact on humanity.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

Psychedelics including psilocybin are still controlled substances in Canada and the US, so the regulatory requirements for companies like Filament are significant. While my team and I have a cumulative 40 years’ experience in natural extraction, the psychedelics industry is still in its infancy, so we’re constantly learning and adapting.

How do people get involved/buy into your vision?

You can reach out to us via our website (www.filament.health) or on our social media channels (@filamenthealth). We’re also publicly traded on the NEO exchange in Canada, the OTCQB in the US, and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. (OTCQB:FLHLF) (NEO:FH) (FSE:7QS)