Author: Emma Baron

CannaGlobal Appoints New Board of Directors

Toronto, February 1, 2021 — GoodCap Wellness Inc. (“GoodCap” or the “Company”), a life sciences company developing psilocybin-based therapeutics focused on the impact of inflammation on mental health, today announced appointment of a new Board of Directors including industry experts in pharmaceutical drug development, biotechnology, brand creation, and business development, with track records in building […]

Sansero Life Sciences Announces Joint Study With the University of Toronto to Advance Clinical Research of Psychedelic Medications

Toronto, October 1, 2020 — Sansero Life Sciences, a leader in the development of psilocybin-based medicines, announced today that it has partnered with the University of Toronto to complete a preclinical study on the effects of low-dose psilocybin. The study will bring new scientific understanding to psilocybin metabolism in the mammalian body and how low-dose psilocybin affects […]

CannaGlobal, Sansero Life Sciences and Rise Wellness Complete Merger, Announce Formation of CannaGlobal Wellness

Toronto, September 3, 2020 — CannaGlobal Canada Co. Inc., Sansero Life Sciences Inc., and Rise Wellness this week announced the completion of their amalgamation to form CannaGlobal Wellness, a global psychedelics leader focused on psilocybin and other natural compounds to promote emotional, mental, and physical wellness. Sansero Life Sciences is developing psilocybin-based pharmaceutical products to treat mental health […]

Markers of PTSD

Raghunath Singh, Yashika Bansal, Ishwar Parhar, Anurag Kuhad, Tomoko Soga, Neuropsychiatric implications of transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV) channels in the reward system, Neurochemistry International, Volume 131, 2019, 104545,ISSN 0197-0186,

Jiang, X., Xing, G., Yang, C. et al. Stress Impairs 5-HT2A Receptor-Mediated Serotonergic Facilitation of GABA Release in Juvenile Rat Basolateral Amygdala. Neuropsychopharmacol 34, 410–423 (2009).

Chinta SJ, Andersen JK. Dopaminergic neurons. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2005 May;37(5):942-6. doi: 10.1016/j.biocel.2004.09.009. Epub 2004 Dec 2. PMID: 15743669.

Carol Coughlin, MBA

Director, Chair of FAR Committee

 

20+ years experience as CFO specializing in healthcare

Experienced public company board leader, audit committee chair, and is highly skilled in corporate governance including board refreshment, strategic alternatives and M&A for growth and highly regulated companies

Loyola University in MD (MBA) and Towson University (BS Business), is a Board Leadership Fellow (NACD) and a Certified Public Accountant (active status)

Portrait of Dr. Daryl Hudson

Darryl Hudson

Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer

 

Deep expertise in molecular biology, neuroscience and genetics in psychedelics

Prior to founding GoodCap, Darryl co-founded InPlanta Biotechnology Inc. and Pathways Rx, where he led the development and commercialization of proprietary plant genetics

PhD in molecular biology and genetics from the University of Guelph

Ralph Landau

Chief Science Officer

 

30+ years executive leadership in pharmaceutical R&D, manufacturing and operations

Sandoz, Novartis, Merck, Elan, Fougera, Cambrex

Led the commercialization of over 50 products covering a number of dosage forms, including Veregen, the first ever botanical drug approved by the FDA

Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, from the University of Delaware

Bachelor of Science, Chemical Engineering, from the New Jersey Institute of Technology

Andrew Williams, MBA

Chief Financial Officer

 

17+ years in the Pharma/Biotech sector as a Chief Financial Officer with extensive start-up, strategic, financial and operational experience

Was the COO & CFO of Cynapsus Therapeutics, a specialty CNS pharmaceutical company that developed Kynmobi®, a sublingual thin film strip for the treatment of OFF episodes associated with Parkinson’s disease

In October 2016, Cynapsus was acquired for $841 million by Sunovion Pharmaceuticals

While serving as CFO, Cynapsus raised approximately $170 million via private and public offerings, including $90 million from the proceeds of a US Initial Public Offering and NASDAQ listing.

BAH Economics from Queen’s University and MBA from Ivey School of Business at Western University

Rochelle Stenzler, BSc Phm, ICD.D

Chair of Board

 

35+ years senior executive and board experience in Pharma/healthcare

Fmr. President/CEO Pharma Plus Drugmarts, Revlon Canada, TLC Laser Eye Centers and TouchLogic Corporation

Chair of Cynapsus Therapeutics which was acquired for $841million

Fmr. Director & Vice Chair of the Humber River Hospital

BScPhm, Pharmacy, University of Toronto

Theresa Matkovits, PhD

Director

 

20+ years experience as leader in global drug development and commercialization

Experience across multiple therapeutic areas including Endocrine Disorders, Anti-infectives, Antivirals, Central Nervous System Disorders (Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorders, Generalized Anxiety Disorders, Major Depression, Migraine, Anesthesia), Women’s Health, as well as a number of orphan indications

Board Director in private and public-sector companies

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

Joseph Elliot, MSc, PhD

Director

 

More than 30 years as a serial entrepreneur and former venture capitalist

Broad experience pharmaceuticals, biologicals and vaccines in oncology and infectious diseases

Experienced in drug development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs (FDA, EMA, NICE, Health Canada, WHO and BfArM)

Held senior technical and international marketing positions with Pharmacia Canada Inc. (now Pfizer) and Connaught Laboratories Inc (now Sanofi-Pasteur Vaccines)

PhD in Medical Sciences from McMaster University

Lorne Gertner, BArch, ICD.D, MRIAC

Director

 

Serial entrepreneur at the lead of emerging industries

Co-founder of Cynapsus Therapeutics which was acquired for $841 million

Co-founded and is the former chairman of PharmaCan (later known as Cronos), which achieved a peak market capitalization of $7 billion

Co-founder of the Tokyo Smoke brand which is now owned by Canopy Growth after a purchase in 2018 for $542 million

Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto

Prevalence and Costs of PTSD

  1. https://library.neura.edu.au/ptsd-library/epidemiology-ptsd-library/prevalence-epidemiology-ptsd-library/worldwide-prevalence/#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20evidence%20for,%2C%20the%20rate%20is%205.6%25
  2. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd
  3. https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-022-03954-8
  4. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/common/common_adults.asp
  5. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/01/staggering-ptsd-costs
  6. Trautmann S, Rehm J, Wittchen HU. The economic costs of mental disorders: Do our societies react appropriately to the burden of mental disorders? EMBO Rep. 2016 Sep;17(9):1245-9. doi: 10.15252/embr.201642951. Epub 2016 Aug 4

Robert Dantzer, PhD, DVM

Professor in the Department of Symptom Research in the Division of Internal Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

A pioneer in establishing the connection between depression and inflammation

Current research aims at understanding the role of inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction in the pathophysiology of depression and fatigue

Authored more than 550 original research papers, reviews and book chapters on stress, anxiety, neuropeptides, brain-immune interactions, and inflammation-associated depression

Charles B. Nemeroff, PhD, MD

Chair and professor with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin

Co-director of the Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy

Directs the Institute for Early Life Adversity Research within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences as part of the Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences

Former Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and clinical director of the Center on Aging at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Laura Targownik, PhD, MD

Clinician Researcher in the Mount Sinai Hospital Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic. Director for the University of Toronto Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and a faculty member of the University of Toronto School of Public Health Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation.

Founder of the Ontario Best Practices Research Initiative in IBD, Ontario’s premier source of real-world data and patient-reported data on IBD in Ontario. Authored or co-authored over 180 articles in peer-reviewed publications.

Current research focus on the costs and benefits of medications used in IBD, assessing how to optimize delivery of mental health care for persons with IBD in diverse practice settings.

Elizabeth Nielson, PhD

Co-founder of Fluence and a psychologist with a focus on developing psychedelic medicines as empirically supported treatments for mood disorders, PTSD, and substance use problems. 

Site Co-Principal Investigator and therapist for an FDA approved Phase 3 clinical trial of psychedelic-assisted Psychotherapy and has served as a therapist on earlier FDA approved clinical trials of psilocybin-assisted treatments for treatment resistant depression. 

Assistant Professor of Clinical Medical Psychology in Psychiatry and Project Clinician at Columbia University where her research includes qualitative and mixed-methods projects to further understand the phenomenology and mechanisms of change in psychedelic-assisted therapy.

Ken Croitoru, PhD, MD

Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, where he is a member of the Institute of Medical Science and secondarily appointed to the Department of Immunology

Gastroenterologist and internist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada with 35+ years of experience in medical practice, teaching, and research focused on gut inflammation

Worked extensively with the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada where he helped to develop the IBD Research Institute, and is now a project leader of the GEM Project, a global clinical study coordinated out of the IBD research group at the Zane Cohen Centre at Mount Sinai Hospital

Cory Weissman, MD​

Head of Interventional Psychiatry at UC San Diego, focusing on the development of novel treatments, including psychedelic medicines, for patients with severe mental illness

Highly active in the field of psychedelic science, where he has published on psychedelic microdosing and led several studies investigating the potential use of psychedelics for suicidality

Former clinical and research fellow in brain stimulation at the University of Toronto

Portrait of Steve Sadoff

Steven Sadoff

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer

 

15+ years of leadership experience across highly regulated industries with 100+ innovative product launches

Proven track record of growing sales, building brands, and leading product-development teams for Bacardi, Labatt, Novartis, and Jamieson Laboratories