Stock and Forex Trader Samuel Leach from Samuel and Co Trading, recognised as one of Yahoo Finance's Top Traders To Follow in 2020, ranked 7th in the Fintech Disruptor Awards (2020) and the subject of "The Real Forex Trader" documentary, had this to say about investing in the Mental Health Treatment Market and the Psyence Group in particular.

Since the extraordinary advance of medical science in the second half of the 20th Century and continuing to the present day, in the UK delivered through the NHS, the average life expectancy has skyrocketed to 79.9 years for males and 83.6 for females. Perhaps the most remarkable manifestation of this is the rapid development, analysis and role-out of not one but of a range of COVID-19 vaccines. 

Whilst this is all unquestionably good news for the individual, as a consequence of a more elderly population, the incidence of illnesses affecting mental health has also increased significantly. Mental Health charity, Mind, reports 1 in 4 people in England will experience mental health problems each year, and 1 in 6 suffering from chronic mental health problems. Globally, it is estimated that 971 million suffer from some form of mental health issue. The societal changes that have arisen further to the Pandemic ensure that figures of this nature are not likely to improve in the foreseeable future. 

Fundamentally the current medical response of treating symptoms, rather than the underlying causes, ensures that a real remedy remains elusive for those truly invested in this ticking time bomb, the patients. That being said a psychiatric and psychological approach as well as a supporting context assists, but there seems to be no magic bullet. 

Whilst looking into this area, after a friend's mother died prematurely due to such a medical condition, I came across The Psyence Group (CSE: PSYG).

The Psyence Group has the potential to be market leaders in therapeutic uses of natural psychedelics in operating one of the first federally-licensed commercial Psilocybin manufacture sites and looks to promote its use in mental health treatment.  

Psilocybin has been proven to work more effectively than traditional anti-depressants and has significant psychological benefits for the treatment of a range of mental health illnesses. This chemical has the potential to revolutionise treatment and care in a market estimated to be valued at around $100 billion for psychedelics in the treatment of Anxiety, ADHD, Addiction and Depression. 

Already a number of players in the market have gone public and secured funding for further research and development. For example, MindMed and Compass Pathways have both broken into the market with market caps of c. $1.5 billion each. It is in this context that The Psyence Group looks to play. 

Psycence has a global footprint across various jurisdictions with different approaches to this emerging treatment approach. Its Therapeutics arm is the principle area, developing psilocybin based treatments. Its Production branch is a licensed and scalable processing undertaking with verified results, sited in a favourable context with low-cost electricity and access to a skilled workforce. Psyence Function delivers a range of products for the wellness of both mind and body. Psyence Experience seeks to deliver spa-like retreats to connect travellers to nature and expose them to enlightenment. 

The Psyence Group has a leadership team with extensive experience within the sector and related industries and has clinical and psychological expertise at the heart of management and operations, which bodes well for robust Corporate Governance within a Medical Health Treatment context. 

I consider further research in The Psyence Group is merited for the following reasons: 

1. Peer-reviewed papers from John Hopkins and New York Universities supports the use of psilocybin for treatment of depression, anxiety, PTSD and a range of other mental illnesses, with the FDA identifying it as a break-through treatment;

2. The $28.6 billion annual market in anti-depressants, treating symptoms and externals rather than the underlying circumstances, appears not to be delivering the required results;

3. Psilocybin looks to disrupt the multi-trillion dollar mental health market with clinically and neurologically verifiable results;

4. The Psyence Group has developed a pipeline of Psilocybin products with a range of identified therapeutic uses. 

With the seemingly ever-growing need for creative and ingenious treatments and therapies to meet the expanding mental health crisis,  serious and sustained investments in companies like Psyence may be critical. Therefore, Psyence stocks are worth a further review - see its website for your own due diligence.