Meet the Briton betting on magic mushrooms to help treat depression
George Goldsmith, founder of Compass Pathways, has created a synthetic version of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms
George Goldsmith, founder of Compass Pathways
Credit: Compass Pathways
Back in the 1960s, George Goldsmith’s use of magic mushrooms was purely recreational. “It was. an exploration like many people do when they re younger. I found it really very interesting.”
Now magic mushrooms have propelled Goldsmith higher than he could ever have possibly imagined - to the helm of a company worth $1.99bn (£1.49bn).
Indeed Compass Pathways, the London-based mental health start-up Goldsmith founded and runs with his wife, Ekaterina Malievskaia, has tripled in value since stocks launched on the Nasdaq on September 20th - tribute, Goldsmith says, to the “level of need that drives people to view us as that important”.
2020 in health: What we learned at Web Summit
Health was always going to be a central theme of Web Summit 2020, and the first two days of the event featured some fascinating discussions on the health sector. Covid-19 continues to dominate every news channel, and we were lucky to hear from some of the leading experts on global recovery. But we also welcomed voices from other crucial areas of health, including mental health, inclusivity within medical research, and employee wellbeing.
“We understand the immune response better, and what we’re learning is generally good news”: Covid-19: Is there optimism in the outlook?