Mag­ic mush­rooms and 'toad ven­om' get this British biotech an over­sub­scribed Se­ries B

A new psy­che­delics play­er burst on­to the scene Mon­day with a hefty Se­ries B, aim­ing to re­fash­ion two well-known drugs in­to ther­a­pies for crip­pling headaches and treat­ment-re­sis­tant de­pres­sion.

Beck­ley Psytech net­ted $80 mil­lion to push for­ward its psilo­cy­bin and “toad ven­om” pro­grams. In 2019, the Ox­ford, UK biotech spun out of the Beck­ley Foun­da­tion, a British think tank lob­by­ing for glob­al drug pol­i­cy re­form. The com­pa­ny had ini­tial­ly set out to raise $50 mil­lion for the round.

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