COMPASS Pathways joins forces with King’s College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to accelerate psychedelic research and develop new models of mental health care in the UK

London, UK – 5 July 2021

COMPASS Pathways plc (Nasdaq: CMPS) (“COMPASS”), a mental health care company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, aimed at advancing psychedelic research and developing ambitious new models of care for mental health in the UK. 

The three parties are keen to collaborate on a multi-year partnership that reflects their commitment to delivering innovation in mental health care. This collaboration is intended to include research into COMP360 psilocybin therapy and other novel therapies that may be developed by COMPASS in areas of unmet need such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anorexia. It is also intended to include training therapists in psychedelic therapy, generating real-world evidence, prototyping digital solutions, and building state-of-the-art facilities for research as well as for modelling the “mental health care clinic of the future”.

David Bradley, Chief Executive of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, said, “We believe this collaboration could accelerate much-needed research that will translate into evidence-based and direct patient care for people who use our services. This is a really exciting prospect and has the potential to change people’s lives for the better.”

Professor Allan Young, Head of Academic Psychiatry at King’s IoPPN, said, “We have been in partnership with SLaM at the Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre since 2007, and with COMPASS on COMP360 psilocybin therapy research since 2018. By combining our strengths in biomedical research, clinical trials, clinical care, translational science, training, and digital innovation, we can create a world-class centre of excellence in mental health.”

George Goldsmith, CEO and Co‑founder, COMPASS Pathways, said: “So many of us know people who are suffering with mental health issues, but are not helped by existing treatments. We are dedicated to providing new ways of caring for people on their journey to mental wellbeing – but we cannot do this alone. This partnership would help to amplify our combined efforts so we can bring evidence-based innovation, on a large scale, to people in the UK.”

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About COMPASS Pathways

COMPASS Pathways plc (Nasdaq: CMPS) is a mental health care company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health. Our focus is on improving the lives of those who are suffering with mental health challenges and who are not helped by current treatments. We are pioneering the development of a new model of psilocybin therapy, in which our proprietary formulation of synthetic psilocybin, COMP360, is administered in conjunction with psychological support. COMP360 has been designated a Breakthrough Therapy by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), and we are currently completing a phase IIb clinical trial of psilocybin therapy for TRD, in 22 sites across Europe and North America. We are headquartered in London, UK, with offices in New York, US. Our vision is a world of mental wellbeing. www.compasspathways.com.

Availability of other information about COMPASS Pathways

Investors and others should note that we communicate with our investors and the public using our website (www.compasspathways.com), our investor relations website (ir.compasspathways.com), and on social media (LinkedIn), including but not limited to investor presentations and investor fact sheets, US Securities and Exchange Commission filings, press releases, public conference calls and webcasts. The information that we post on these channels and websites could be deemed to be material information. As a result, we encourage investors, the media, and others interested in us to review the information that is posted on these channels, including the investor relations website, on a regular basis. This list of channels may be updated from time to time on our investor relations website and may include additional social media channels. The contents of our website or these channels, or any other website that may be accessed from our website or these channels, shall not be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933. 

Forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may”, “might”, “will”, “could”, “would”, “should”, “expect”, “intend”, “plan”, “objective”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “contemplate”, “estimate”, “predict”, “potential”, “continue” and “ongoing,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements include express or implied statements relating to, among other things, the efficacy of COMP360 psilocybin therapy as a treatment for depression, COMPASS’s business strategy and goals, including the success of its strategy to develop additional therapies for the treatment of depression as well as other mental health illnesses, COMPASS’s ability to continue to advance its research, including with respect to COMP360 and other potential therapies, and COMPASS’s expectations regarding the benefits of its psilocybin therapy, including COMP360, and other therapies it may develop. The forward-looking statements in this press release are neither promises nor guarantees, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond COMPASS’s control and which could cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, among others: preclinical research and clinical development is lengthy and uncertain, and therefore our preclinical studies and clinical trials may be delayed or terminated, or may never advance to or in the clinic; and those risks and uncertainties described under the heading “Risk Factors” in COMPASS’s annual report on Form 20-F filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 9 March 2021 and in subsequent filings made by COMPASS with the SEC, which are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Except as required by law, COMPASS disclaims any intention or responsibility for updating or revising any forward-looking statements contained in this press release in the event of new information, future developments or otherwise. These forward-looking statements are based on COMPASS’s current expectations and speak only as of the date hereof.                     

About South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust is a large and complex multi-site provider of mental health services – providing the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK. We aim to make a difference to lives by seeking excellence in all areas of mental health and wellbeing. We also provide substance misuse services for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. Our 5,000 staff serve a local population of 1.3 million people. We offer more than 260 services including inpatient wards, outpatient and community service. We provide care for 41,000 patients in the community in Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Croydon. As well as serving the communities of south London, we provide more than 20 specialist services for children and adults across the UK including perinatal services, eating disorders, psychosis and autism.

About King’s College London

King's College London is one of the top 35 UK universities in the world and one of the top 10 in Europe (QS World University Rankings, 2020/21) and among the oldest in England. King's has more than 31,000 students (including more than 12,800 postgraduates) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 8,500 staff.

King's has an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), eighty-four per cent of research at King’s was deemed ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (3* and 4*).

Since our foundation, King’s students and staff have dedicated themselves in the service of society. King’s will continue to focus on world-leading education, research and service, and will have an increasingly proactive role to play in a more interconnected, complex world. Visit our website to find out more about Vision 2029, King's strategic vision to take the university to the 200th anniversary of its founding.

World-changing ideas. Life-changing impact: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/headlines.aspx

Enquiries

Media: Tracy Cheung, tracy@compasspathways.com, +44 7966 309024
Investors: Stephen Schultz, stephen.schultz@compasspathways.com, +1 401 290 7423