Our Consulting Philosophy
For some years we have been approached by companies and venture capital firms starting new businesses in the emerging field of psychedelics, many of whom have experience from in the cannabis industry. Large pharmaceutical companies make money off medicine and alcohol companies make money off recreational substance use. Why would psychedelics be any different?
As scientists first, the key to working with us is Open Science. We see it as a non-negotiable part of what we do.
Open Science means transparency: all our hypotheses, protocols, and data will be made public and free for everyone. Our transparency keeps us accountable and accountability makes us trustworthy. We cannot hide mistakes or judgement calls, engage in fishy statistics or selective reporting, or pretend that we know something we don't. Open Science also means that no company can hide results they don't like as our findings will already be public.
Open Science is the best way to overcome bad science. Unfortunately, some scientists use low-quality research to promote unreliable findings so they can further their own careers and financial interests. Open Science is also the best way to ensure that the pharmaceutical industry cannot squash research that may compete with their existing products, a strategy we know they have pursued in the past.
Research on psychedelics is very expensive, on the order of millions of dollars. That money has to come from somewhere and private industry can be a great source of funding. Corporations still have to provide a lot of value to become profitable. They have to develop a research strategy and intellectual property despite most psychedelic molecules being non-patentable, raise funds in a young industry and expose themselves to risk, and navigate international policy and legal barriers without knowing when psychedelic substances will be legalized. Industry partners will help bring psychedelics into the future and we will be there, using Open Science to keep the science honest and the industry transparent.