Novamind (NM.C) to double the number of clinics in their network

Novamind (NM.C) announced they are opening four new Cedar Psychiatric clinics, doubling the number of clinics in there network.

The expanded capacity for the new clinics is intended to help them cope with a forecasted influx of clients. Novamind expects they will see 65,000 clients in 2021, a 225% increase from their 20,000 clients seen in 2020.

They have begun construction on three of the new clinics and leased a fourth property, and expect the clinics to open between July and September 2021. The company hopes their new clinics will replicate the success of their existing clinics in Utah, ahead of expansion to other states planned for 2021.

Novamind says this expansion is following a significant increase in demand, which they attribute to the adverse mental health effects from the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, Cedar Psychiatric clinics have a two-week wait time for booking new appointments.

The new clinics will offer ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP), Spravato, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), a treatment that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression. Some of the locations will also enable patients to take part in psychedelic medicine clinical trials being run by Cedar Clinical Research, Novamind’s clinical research arm.

“We are doubling the size of our clinic network six months ahead of schedule, with the added capacity enabling us to scale to 65,000 client visits in 2021,” said Yaron Conforti, CEO and Director of Novamind. “Expect continued and aggressive growth as we expand Novamind’s clinic network and clinical research infrastructure ahead of the FDA’s anticipated approvals of MDMA and psilocybin.”

While it is certainly true that COVID-19 has had negative adverse effects on people’s mental health, serious distress among young adults has been on the rise for years. At the same time that young people’s mental health is declining, they are increasingly opening up to the use of psychedelics. Add those two facts together, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see this level of interest in Cedar’s clinics continue even as people put the COVID-19 pandemic behind them.

On top of that, more clinics and more patients will allow Ceder Clinical Research to draw from a larger pool of candidates for any studies they have planned for their future, which will help with any future regulatory approval applications.