Our Mission

Neurodegeneration Pioneers

Founded in 2018 with a deeply rooted commitment to enhancing human health, GoodCap is focused on targeting neuroinflammation to treat psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Our mission is to provide clinicians and patients with unparalleled insights into complex neurological conditions. Our innovative approach is not just about treating symptoms; it’s about fundamentally understanding and disrupting inflammation and degenerative disease processes at their core, offering hope and improved quality of life for millions affected by these challenging conditions.

Improving brain health by combatting neuroinflammation

By targeting neuroinflammation pathways, we are able to influence a root cause of psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders including PTSD, Depression, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s

GoodCap was created to help those who desperately need better mental healthcare

Over the past ten years, GoodCap co-founder Darryl Hudson, PhD. built strong connections with many military veterans and saw firsthand the sad truth about the mental health treatments they were provided. Many of these veterans struggled with conditions like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the current front-line treatment option for those suffering with many psychiatric disorders, including PTSD, and these drugs lead to an extremely low patient remission rate of 1/3. These drugs are designed to block reabsorption of serotonin into neurons, making more serotonin available, however PTSD patients exhibit a much wider range of symptoms and dysregulated physical markers. Dr. Hudson recognized this broad symptomology and realized there must be a better way to treat these patients, which quickly became the inspiration for the novel formulations that GoodCap is developing today.

GoodCap’s Beachhead Indication: PTSD

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder prevalence is growing uncontrollably in the post-COVID world

Prevalence final

GoodCap exists to improve the lives of patients by providing more effective and accessible medicines.

 


The complexity of the patient experience has been overlooked far too long.

 


The time has come for GoodCap’s unique approach that provides broader and safer impact.

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Irie Selkirk

Co-Founder

 

10+ years of visionary leadership in the wellness, psychedelics, and cannabis industries, specializing in integrating these fields with mainstream healthcare and pharmaceutical practices

Founder of Rise Wellness, the world’s first micro-dose psilocybin retreat providing clients with psychedelic-assisted therapies

Co-inventor of GCAP001, GoodCap’s lead drug candidate

Expert stakeholder providing advisory services to drug policy reform focused on psychedelics in multiple countries

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

Portrait of Dr. Darryl 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, currently Chief Development Officer at Kaléo Pharma. 

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

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)

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

H.G.J.M. Vermetten PhD, MD

Clinical psychiatrist and Faculty member of the Department of Psychiatry at Leiden University in the Netherlands with 20+ years of experience working with veterans and other uniformed officers as Head of Research at the Military Mental Health Service with the Dutch Ministry of Defense and was affiliated with ARQ National Psychotrauma Center. He also has an Adjunct Professorship at the Department of Psychiatry of New York UMC.

Author of 300+ scientific papers and 40+ book chapters, plus additional book edits. Leading the landmark 10-year PRISMO study on military operations, he offered insights into PTSD. 

Trained in the Netherlands as well as in the USA in psychiatry and neuroscience (Stanford, Yale, and Emory University). He has a clinical as well as a research position with a focus on medical/biological as well as psychiatric aspects of complex psychotrauma in military as well as civilian populations. Renowned for pioneering work in novel drug developments, particularly MDMA, psilocybin, ketamine, and medical cannabis.

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 

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

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.

Barbara Olasov Rothbaum, PhD, MD

Clinical researcher in Atlanta, USA with 37+ years of experience in medical practice, teaching, and research focused on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Author of 400+ scientific papers and chapters and served as Associate Editor of The Journal of Traumatic Stress.

Blue Ribbon Panel Member for Pentagon officials, consultant to the Department of Defense, and Member of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Study on Assessment of Ongoing Efforts in the Treatment of PTSD

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the medical school of a high-ranking University in Atlanta, where she is a director of the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program and the Associate Vice Chair of Clinical Research.

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