Compass Pathways Losses Tick Up on Increased R&D

United Kingdom-based psychedelics company Compass Pathways (Nasdaq: CMPS) posted a net loss of $18.4 million for the third quarter of 2022, but company leadership insisted in a press release that the business is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing psilocybin industry.

Losses for Compass so far this year total $60.6 million. The company spent $14 million in the quarter on research and development, with total R&D spending for the year at $45.3 million. That’s up from last year, when Compass spent $12.2 million on R&D in the third quarter and $30.4 million in the first nine months.

Roughly one-third of the year-to-date increase is directly attributable to increased headcount over the last year.

The company reported an increased rate of cash burn from the third quarter in 2021, leading to increased losses. Net losses are up 16% from Q3 2021, when Compass lost $15.8 million.

Nevertheless, Executive Chairman George Goldsmith said in the press release that the business is on track, since much of its R&D expenses have gone towards clinical trials that are studying the effectiveness of psilocybin on depression.

The company’s goal is to get approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a psilocybin-based medication.

“With the announcement of our pivotal Phase 3 COMP360 program design for treatment-resistant depression, we are another important step closer to our goal of bringing COMP360 psilocybin therapy to the large number of patients who are not currently served by existing therapies and urgently need new treatment options,” Goldsmith said.

Goldsmith also touted press attention that a Compass clinical trial had gotten from The New England Journal of Medicine, which he said is “reinforcing the rigour and scale of this study.”

CEO Kabir Nath added that Compass is “on track to start the Phase 3 program this year, and we are making steady progress toward establishing the full global footprint for this program, which includes actively initiating new sites and training therapists.”

Nath also said Compass is expanding clinical trials to look at whether psilocybin could help patients suffering from anorexia and post-traumatic stress disorder, and studies are already underway in California, New York City, and the United Kingdom.

Compass’ stock price is also down from a year ago; as of Thursday it was trading at $10.31 per share, down from $46.66 per share last November.

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