SPKB - Silver Spike SPAC Picks Psychedelic Company Eleusis
Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. II (NASDAQ: SPKB/SPKBU/SPKBW), a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company or SPAC sponsored by an affiliate of Silver Spike Capital announced on Thursday that it has signed an agreement expected to make Eleusis a public company. Eleusis is a clinical-stage life science company that aims to unlock the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. The combined company will be operated through Eleusis Inc., a new holding company, and will apply to have its common stock listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “ELEU.” Eleusis said it expects to use the proceeds received from SPKB’s trust account in the transaction to support clinical development of ELE-Psilo, early stage drug discovery and translational research, and the nationwide expansion of Andala-managed clinics.
“This is an ideal moment for Eleusis to go public with a partner like Silver Spike,” said Shlomi Raz, CEO and founder of Eleusis. “We are thrilled to work with the Silver Spike team, whose extensive financial and industry experience complement our expertise. We believe access to public capital markets will accelerate our efforts to transform psychedelics into modern medicines, and ultimately offers the potential to improve millions of patients’ lives while creating long-term value for our shareholders.”
Eleusis was founded in 2013 and is dedicated to transforming psychedelics into medicines. ELE-Psilo, Eleusis’s lead drug candidate, is being developed to treat depression and is expected to enter Phase I trials in 2022, subject to regulatory authorization. Eleusis designed ELE-Psilo, if FDA-approved, to be compatible with existing U.S. healthcare infrastructure and insurance coverage and reimbursement requirements. Eleusis formulated ELE-Psilo to deliver psilocin, the active ingredient in psilocybin, via IV infusion. IV-administered psilocin has the potential to offer more consistent therapeutic effects to patients, more controllable therapies to clinicians, and shorter treatment times – planned to be two hours or less – than orally-administered psilocybin exhibited in third-party clinical studies.
Scott Gordon, CEO and Chairman of SPKB, and CEO and Founder of Silver Spike, added, “At Silver Spike, we believe that realizing the vast therapeutic potential of psychedelics will require companies like Eleusis to develop practical solutions to accelerate mainstream adoption and spur innovation that leads to approved psychedelic therapies that are both accessible and affordable. In addition, Andala’s groundbreaking work managing clinics to address the ‘last mile’ challenge of psychedelics is consistent with our investment thesis in alternative health and wellness categories – find the companies that enable an entire market to scale. We believe Eleusis has identified the ‘end game’ of developing psychedelic drug therapies, and we are excited to be playing a role in potentially realizing its inspiring vision.”
Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. II is a $287.5 million SPAC sponsored by Silver Spike, an asset manager with deep expertise in health, wellness, and cannabis investments. The team’s experience includes the completed merger of Silver Spike’s first SPAC, Silver Spike Acquisition Corp., with WM Holding Company better known as WeedMaps.