Diverse clinics
Ketamine One (MEDI.NE) announced it’s adding 2 more locations to its already bustling ketamine clinic network. Through an acquisition last week, Ketamine One gains control of Illumma LLC’s clinics in Austin and Bee Cave, Texas.
Ketamine One paid a total consideration of $980,000 CAD with $490,000 CAD in stock, and $490,000 CAD in cash for the clinic business.
The company also announced earlier in the week that their subsidiary IRP Health was partnering with the Psychology & Counselling Services Group (“PCSG”) to provide psychology, therapy, dietary, and other mental health services for IRP starting as early as next month.
Since 2006, the PCSG team of over 35 mental health professionals has treated over 11,000 patients through their established programs including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), emotion-focused therapy, pain management group therapy, and high performance and sports psychology mental health. PCSG provides individual psychotherapy, couple/family therapy, psychological and vocational assessments, as well as psychoeducational assessment and intervention for children, youth, and adults.
We see terms like DBT and CBT used a lot in articles about psychedelic-assisted therapy and I wanted to go a bit deeper on the two as it’s important to understand them. CBT is a form of talk therapy rooted in the idea that our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are interconnected and that changing one can change the others.
CBT has played a big role in the psilocybin studies done by Johns Hopkins. Participants in Hopkins’ 2014 psilocybin for nicotine addiction study also went through extensive CBT therapy along with the trip. CBT helps integrate the trip into the patient’s daily life by giving context to the trip, as well as practical tools for the patient to use outside of the lab/trial. This is an important aspect of psychedelic-assisted therapy as it gives the patient or client the added benefit of having the lessons from the trip bleed out into everyday life.
CBT is a structured, time-limited (usually 12-16 sessions) psychotherapy that identifies and addresses persistent maladaptive thought patterns to change emotions (e.g. – depression/anxiety/trauma) and behaviors (low motivation/insomnia). It uses strategies such as goal-setting, breathing techniques, visualization, and mindfulness to decrease emotional distress and self-defeating behavior.
DBT therapy is the go-to protocol for people with borderline personality disorder (BPD). It was originally modeled after CBT, but incorporated new modalities to fit patients with BPD who were highly suicidal, impulsive, and often in a constant love/hate relationship with all of those around them. DBT therapy was designed for the harder cases, its founder Dr. Marsha Linehan spent years split testing different approaches and techniques that ultimately became what we know as DBT therapy. Before DBT there was no go-to protocol for BPD, a condition with a suicide rate 10X higher than that of the normal population.
In more recent years DBT’s scope has widened beyond just BPD. DBT is now the go-to treatment for improving emotional regulation skills, in those diagnosed with anxiety and ADHD. DBT rests on scientifically sound behavioral and cognitive strategies and incorporates skills like mindfulness and acceptance principles. DBT skills include fostering the “wise mind” (the balance between the logical and emotional minds), self-soothing activities, and acting in ways that are in contrast to the immediate, distressing emotion — for instance, smiling during an upsetting situation.
DBT skills training is made up of four modules designed to assist individuals in better managing behaviors, emotions, and thoughts.
1. Mindfulness skills help members focus on the present and attend to what is happening in the here and now in a calm way. This helps people slow down and focus on doing what is needed to care for themselves in the moment.
2. Distress tolerance helps people get through times when emotions are running high. It teaches people to soothe themselves in healthy ways rather than becoming overwhelmed by emotions or hiding from them.
3. Interpersonal effectiveness skills involve helping people understand their needs in relationships and to develop ways of dealing with others to have those wants met in a healthy fashion. This involves respecting the self and others, listening and communicating effectively, repairing relationships, and being able to say no.
4. Emotion regulation skills teach patients to decrease the intensity of their feelings, without acting on them.
IRP & Veterans
In June, Ketamine One acquired Victoria, BC-based Integrated Rehab and Performance (IRP). Ketamine One’s plan is to expand its offerings into veterans communities across the country. Ketamine One paid $1,000,000 in common shares with 700,000 additional shares reserved for reaching certain revenue and expansion milestones.
Ketamine One and IRP have identified locations with high concentration of veterans and communities with ties to the military. Current Ketamine One clinics in Ottawa and Halifax will be retrofitted and rebranded as IRP Health clinics. The Ottawa clinic will be located in an area with a population of over 9,000 veterans.
The Comox Valley location will be located in Courtenay, BC. The Comox Valley is one of the top retirement destinations in Canada for military veterans.
Towards the end of 2021, the Halifax and Surrey centers are planning to be operational after short construction periods for each. The Halifax area currently has more than 14,000 veterans in the local area. Lastly, the Surrey facility is expected to be located on 96th Avenue, which will be in association with the neuroplasticity clinic within the innovation hub in the Health and Technology District.
Ketamine One has a total of 118,269,439 Shares outstanding and is sitting at a market cap of $155 million CAD. As of May 1st, 2021, the company reported working capital of $6.6 million CAD and cash of $5.7 million CAD.
To date, the company has acquired 16 clinics across North America, with LOI’s signed for additional clinics. Its team is in the process of building the infrastructure needed to provide ketamine treatments through existing clinics, experienced professionals, and tech.
In May Ketamine One purchased all outstanding shares of KGK Science Inc. from Auxly (XLY.T) for $12.5-million CAD in the form of
$2.5 million CAD in cash and $10 million CAD in stock. Founded in 1997, KGK to date has produced 150 publications, executed over 400 clinical trials across more than 40 indications, amassed 25,000 participants in its database, and collected 10 million data points. KGK’s other existing service lines include expert regulatory support and compliance solutions, participant recruitment, research support services, and consulting services.
Ketamine One is looking to compete with companies like Field Trip (FTRP.Q), Braxia (BRAX.C), and Novamind (NM.C) by creating a nationwide ketamine clinic network. Ketamine One is scaling its business through an aggressive M&A strategy which included retrofitting previous cannabis clinics.