David Bronner calls out the never ending creep of Compass or as he puts it……..
Their monopolistic and shady behavior.
It’s time to publicly call out the for-profit psychedelic pharma company Compass Pathways, for their monopolistic and shady behavior. This Vice article, “Can a Company Patent the Basic Components of Psychedelic Therapy”, details their recent attempts to patent a clinical setting with mood lighting, soft furniture, subdued colors and a good sound system. This was after they tried to patent psilocybin synthesis in a way that would occupy the field and prevent awesome nonprofit drug development companies like Usona and B-more, or any other entity, from producing this life-saving medicine. Fortunately, Freedom to Operate, the nonprofit that Carey Turnbull of B-More formed to beat back these overbroad IP grabs, has been so far successful.
I wanted to flag here what isn’t as well known yet—information that was provided to the Healing Advocacy Fund, which is overseeing smooth implementation of Oregon’s Psilocybin Therapy (Measure 109) in Oregon. According to this information, George Goldsmith, CEO and co-founder of Compass, recently started reaching out to several psychedelic researchers at OHSU (Oregon Health & Science University) in an attempt to drum up concern and mobilize opposition to implementing 109 in Oregon. Compass makes no bones about their opposition to Measure 109 and their intent to keep psilocybin therapy within the FDA medical pharma frame only. From their position statement Should psilocybin be legalized, listed first on their “Our Perspectives” page on their website, and quoting with their emphasis: “To make sure it is safe and effective in patients, psilocybin therapy needs to be approved by medical regulators, not legislators.”
While I have confidence in the researchers I know at OHSU, I’m concerned others elsewhere may take the bait and soon we may see Compass-funded researchers publishing articles, op-eds, or otherwise trying to mobilize the scientific community and public at large, and ultimately federal regulators, to oppose implementation of Measure 109. Having supposedly independent academic researchers on your dole acting as proxies for industry interests is a tried and true playbook perfected long ago.
Read his full article at https://www.drbronner.com/all-one-blog/2021/03/sounding-the-alarm-on-compasss-interference-in-oregons-psilocybin-therapy-program/
