Hi Friends,
Over the past many months we’ve had hundreds of conversations with people across the psychedelics community. I wanted to send a general update as Althea has considerably evolved and matured. Reach out if anything I share below inspires further inquiry.
At Althea, we believe in a world where the potential of psychedelic therapies are realized. Specifically, that it’s well understood what medicines are most appropriate for different types of people, with various diagnoses, in different settings. And what the real risks in using these medicines are, so we can make informed decisions. And finally, that they’re accessible to the people who need them the most. Namely, we’re focused on effectiveness, safety, and access.
While psychedelics have come a long way since the war on drugs of decades past, there is still much progress to be made. The reality today is that psychedelic therapies are potentially effective, yet carry significant risk and are largely inaccessible, especially to people with serious mental illness.
The key to understanding effectiveness, reducing risk, and improving access is real-world evidence. We’re at the precipice of an extraordinary opportunity. In the past, it has been difficult to gather real-world evidence because these medicines were primarily used in the underground or within limited and controlled clinical trials. Oregon pioneered a regulated pathway and Colorado will join them in just a few months.
As we come above ground, we have an opportunity to contribute to the real-world evidence that will allow more people to understand when to seek psychedelic medicine and effectively mitigate risks. Real-world evidence will drive policy reform and show payers what they need to offer coverage options and increase access.
At Althea, it’s our purpose to further humanity’s understanding of the impact of psychedelic programs on health and consciousness. And we’re so excited to partner with so many of you in this. The following is a bit more of what we’ve been up to in service of this mission.
Sincerely,
Niko Skievaski
Co-founder of Althea PBC
Oregon SB303 Compliance
We’re rolling out tools for Service Centers in Oregon to meet SB303 compliance requirements, while managing their workflows, and enabling facilitators and clients to contribute to research studies. All for free. Learn more here.
Colorado go-live in the New Year
We’re collaborating with Colorado regulators and potential licensees to design free software to support the state’s natural medicine program implementation. We’re excited to announce a collaboration with the Naropa Center for Psychedelic Studies in these efforts.
Tools for Facilitators
We’re rolling out software tools for facilitators to screen clients, and collect baseline and outcomes measures. (Also free!) Reach out to us if you’d like to see a sample report or would like to consider using with your clients.
Bringing Outcomes to Researchers
We’re working with researchers to implement their study protocols in our software to screen and refer interested participants. We should have some exciting announcements along these lines in the coming months and continue to appreciate our strong partnership with CU Anschutz Psychiatry and the Psychedelic Public Policy Partnership.
Convening Community
We’re building community amongst facilitators, cultivators, and researchers by making connections and holding regular discussion forums. Let us know if you’d like an invitation to participate!
Funding for our Future
We don’t believe that charging service providers or clients aligns with improving access to this medicine. “Free” was a common theme above. On that note, we’ve raised enough private capital to fund these efforts for the coming years to support our purpose as a public benefit company. We appreciate our funders for believing in our team to make it happen.
Althea Later! <3
