Company Overview
Adding to the growing list of publicly traded Canadian psychedelics companies, Havn Life Sciences listed last month on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the ticker “HAVN”. Additionally, The company has also listed its shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the ticker “5NP”. This is the latest in a series of IPOs in what can be termed as a Psychedelic Renaissance for the financial sector. We’re seeing extremely strong investor demand for all psychedelic stocks which took to the markets this year, with interest likely to increase going forward.
Havn Life has decided to enter the exchange via an IPO. Most psychedelic companies choose to go public in Canada via reverse take-overs (usually mining companies which have gone bust).
Havn Life Sciences has stated its focus on pursuing opportunities in the biotechnology healthcare industry. Future acquisitions cannot be ruled out.
Corporate Structure
On June 3rd, 2020, Havn Life Sciences announced the acquisition of Havn Research, a privately-owned biotechnology company. As a result, Havn Research became a wholly-owned subsidiary company of Havn Life Sciences.
Furthermore, the company has been active in establishing strategic relationships geared toward acquiring assets and businesses in the psychopharmacological industry.
Havn Life Sciences by itself doesn’t have any business operations. As a result, all research towards developing controlled psychoactive compounds and natural health products for sale are being undertaken by Havn Research.
Future Strategy
Established in June 2020, Havn Life defines itself as a biotechnology company engaged in the research and development of psychopharmacological products. This also includes the formulation of standardized psychoactive compounds derived from fungi.
The company recently applied to Health Canada for a Controlled Drugs and Substances Dealers Licence. If successful, this application would allow Havn life to produce and supply psilocybin to licensed clinical researchers, as well as academic and corporate entities.
It plans to supply its products to third parties for use in clinical trials and for the production of natural health products. Subsequently, Havn Life hopes that its compounds can be used to develop innovative therapies to improve mental health and human performance.
It operates a research facility located in the South Campus at The University of British Columbia. This helps to facilitate access to academic resources for research collaborations, as well as access to university student hires.
Eventually, Havn Life intends to seek GMP certification for the facility. It expects to receive approval to go ahead with clinical trials in 2021.
Havn Life aims to tap into unregulated natural health markets with mushroom and plant-based products. It additionally aims to also supply psychedelic products for academic research.
Business Divisions
Havn Life Labs Division
The supply of standardize psychoactive compounds remains limited, despite increased demand. Therefor, for researchers to fully understand the therapeutic potential of psychoactive compounds, methods must be developed to ensure the researchers have access to safe, standardized, quality-controlled psychedelic derivatives.
A standardized methodology is essential for growing, extracting, and synthesizing these compounds. Eventually, Havn Research plans to undertake research to develop protocols covering the production of Psilocybe spp. mushrooms in sterile conditions, the extraction and purification of psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin, and similar compounds. Eventually, it hopes to supply researchers with quality-controlled psychoactive compounds for clinical trials.
The company anticipates that it will take one year to complete the development of research protocols. If necessary, HAVN Research may utilize contract manufacturing services to scale production to meet demand.
Havn Life Retail Division
The Havn retail business division intends to formulate and sell regulated natural health products (“NHPs”) using compounds having already been confirmed in safety and efficacy, and approved by Health Canada. At first, Havn Retail NHPs will focus on four categories of human health and performance: immunity support, cognitive support, stress prevention, and energy support. Each of the four initial products developed by Havn Retail will contain a foundational medicinal mushroom (Chaga, Cordyceps, Lion’s Mane, Reishi, Shiitake, or Turkey Tail), together with other herbs that have been selected for each of the four products based on an evidence-informed model following the Health Canada regulatory framework. Below is a brief description of Havn’s four product lines.
- Immunity – Formulations will be designed to target receptors and enzymes known to support immune regulation.
- Cognitive – Formulations will be designed to target receptors and enzymes known to support the regulation and release of neurotransmitters that support mental cognition.
- Stress – Formulations will be designed to support receptors and enzymes known to reduce the stress response.
- Energy – Formulations will be designed to target receptors and enzymes known to support mental energy.
Havn Research expects to market its proprietary NHP products under the Havn Life brand through a direct to consumer market model and through third party point of sale locations of NHP products. Since the products described above will be based on existing monographs, they will not be subject to clinical trials, thereby significantly reducing the expected timeline to bring these to market. Havn Life expects to market these products in early 2021.
Listed below are the different avenues from which Havn Life expects to generate its revenue.
Havn Labs Business Division:
1. Sales of controlled psychoactive compounds to third parties for research and clinical studies, and to healthcare practitioners.
2. Licensing and consulting fees from pharmaceutical companies and other psychedelic companies seeking assistance in understanding standardization, production, and protocols for human and animal trials.
Havn Retail Business Division:
1. Sales of regulated NHP compounds through direct to consumer sales and through third party point-of-sale locations. Moreover, this is inclusive of white label manufacturing arrangements with third-party retailers and distributors that lack research capacity or expertise in formulations.
Outlook
The market for psychoactive compounds is nascent, given the illegality of most such compounds. The FDA’s recent granting of Breakthrough Therapy designations for psilocybin has increased the interest in the compound significantly.
The market for NHP is already established for compounds derived from fungi. The global functional mushroom industry is valued at over US$15.1 billion and projected to increase to US$34.3 billion by 2024. As a result, Havn Research intends to develop NHP products to serve an emerging niche segment of consumers seeking NHPs that provide the benefit of psychoactive compounds that are not currently considered controlled substances.
