Industrial trials for psychedelics-assisted medical treatments will now have access to state-of-the-art brain scanning technology due to a recent all-London partnership announced today (twenty fifth April). 

MYndspan’s co-founder Caitlin Baltzer, having her brain scanned using magnetoencephalogy (MEG) technology at MYndspan’s Birmingham site. Image Credit: Myndspan

Clerkenwell Health, who opened Europe’s first industrial psychedelic clinical trials facility in London last Autumn, have partnered with MYndspan, brain wellness and analytics technology pioneers, to provide medical researchers direct access to MYndspan’s magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain scanning technology.

That is regarded as the primary time that industrial MEG scanners have been made available to be used in industrial clinical trials to support pharmaceutical development. 

MYndspan’s technology will provide unprecedented levels of accuracy in monitoring a participant’s brain activity and performance (each before and after taking psychedelic drugs) as a part of trials run at Clerkenwell Health’s central London facility. 

Placing London at the center of medical psychedelics innovation

Psychedelics work by altering neural networks in our brains – the primary of its kind partnership will help understand this link definitively, and supply insights into the complex ways during which psychedelic treatments affect the brain. Globally there 81 upcoming clinical trial completions in 2023, of which 46 are commercially sponsored or affiliated.

This recent partnership will provide Clerkenwell Health’s clients with worthwhile recent information for understanding the mechanisms of motion of the drugs they’re developing, and their effectiveness. 

This will likely be crucial in furthering the understanding of the role of psychedelics in tackling a spread of complex mental health and neurological conditions – like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – for the pharmaceutical firms running clinical trials from Clerkenwell’s facility. 

The partnership firmly places London at the center of Europe’s nascent medical psychedelics sector, and Clerkenwell’s establishment of their European-leading industrial facility within the capital. 

​​​​​​​We’re on a mission to remodel treatment for mental health conditions, and our world-first partnership with MYndspan is one other critical step toward delivering on that mission. This collaboration in the center of London provides our clients with each a complicated facility during which to check their drug’s effectiveness, alongside world-class technology that enables for real-time assessment of how these drugs – combined with therapy – can treat mental health conditions plaguing thousands and thousands of individuals worldwide.” 

Tom McDonald, Chief Executive at Clerkenwell Health

Caitlin Baltzer, Cofounder and COO at MYndspan, said:

“With our quick and accurate scanning technology, we’re demystifying brain health. Our data helps people understand how treatments, akin to psychedelics, affect their brain activity and underlying neural circuitry, which is critical to understanding and treating brain and mental health conditions.

“We’re delighted to partner with a corporation aligned with us on revolutionizing the treatment of brain and mental health. London is fast becoming a world-class hub for neuroscience and Europe’s medical psychedelics sector – we’re excited to be a part of it, and sit up for future discoveries and collaborations!”

The news of the partnership follows the primary clinical trials at Clerkenwell’s London facility being given the green light by the MHRA, and having kicked off in 2023. 

Clerkenwell has signed agreements with Canadian and US-based drug developers akin to Mindset Pharma and PharmAla Biotech, to check treatments that might treat a spread of complex mental health conditions, including social anxiety in those affected by autism spectrum disorder, nicotine addiction and major depressive disorders.