Are Psychedelic Penny Stocks On Your Watch List Right Now?
If you’re looking for high-risk, high-reward, penny stocks could be a perfect fit. Not many other investment options offer the ability to leverage small sums of money that can double or triple within a few days or even hours. If 2020 and 2021 have taught us anything, it’s that the stock market is its own animal. While the economy was trying to recover last year, stocks were reaching all-time highs. As the economy has started turning things around thanks to vaccine distribution, stocks are red hot.
Nothing has become more evident than the impact that retail traders have had. Obviously, the big movers like GameStop ( NYSE: GME ) clearly demonstrated this early in 2021. However, as the year rolls on, new trends are emerging. It’s not just “short squeeze stocks” or “ Reddit penny stocks .” Now we see trends emerge in certain industries.
This is another highlight when it comes to penny stocks . Many of the underlying companies are early-stage or emerging growth companies. The business models alone offer up the potential for investors to see companies start from the ground up. One of the latest emerging trends has been in the healthcare space. In particular, alternative medicines to combat the opioid epidemic.
Are Psychedelic Stocks On Your Watch List In 2021?
Much like what we saw during the early days of legalizing cannabis, psychedelics are on the fringes of the medical industry. Right now the main focus is on neurological disorders and dysfunctions that traditional opioid treatments have targeted. However, opioids have been closely linked to high levels of abuse and addiction leading to an actual epidemic.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services*, over 70,000 people died in 2019 due to overdosing. Another 1.6 million had an opioid use disorder within the past year and more than 10 million people misused prescription opioids in the past year.
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The Journal of Psychopharmacology* found that psychedelic use in place of opioids showed a 27% reduced risk of past-year opioid dependence and a 40% drop in the risk of past-year opioid abuse. Aside from marijuana, the Journal reported that “no other illicit drug was associated with reduced risk of past-year opioid dependence or abuse.”
With science pointing to a solution, 2020 and 2021 have seen the emergence of a new string of public companies exploring psychedelic-assisted treatment options. This is a very young industry right now, but recent milestones suggest that there could be a novel treatment for mental disorders.
Psychedelic Penny Stocks To Watch
Call them mushroom stocks, psychedelic stocks, shroom stocks, etc. All of the companies involved are exploring and researching new ways of medical treatment. This includes everything from controlled recreational use in places that allow for it. There are also platforms being investigated for treatment in a formal, medical setting. All things considered, this has a point of focus for many traders looking for new trends in pharmaceuticals, so to speak.
One of the companies that brought more attention to the industry was Compass Pathways ( NASDAQ: CMPS ). It was one of the notable IPOs last year mainly because it was a psychedelic company listing directly to a major exchange. Since psychedelics have been closely compared to cannabis, it was a “big deal” considering how long it took for marijuana stocks to gain major listing opportunities. Needless to say, there are plenty of other psychedelic stocks to watch right now.
- Havn Life Sciences ( OTC: HAVLF ) ( CSE: HAVN )
- Seelos Therapeutics ( NASDAQ: SEEL )
- Aikido Pharma Inc. ( NASDAQ: AIKI )
Penny Stocks To Watch #1: Havn Life Sciences (OTC: HAVLF) (CSE: HAVN)
Many of these psychedelic-focused companies are working on R&D., But few of them have notable names that helped carve out prior “fringe industries” like cannabis. In Havn’s case, the former CEO of Aphria ( NASDAQ: APHA ), Vic Neufeld, sits as the Executive Chairman. Other Aphria alumni like Gary Long, its Chief Scientific Officer, was Aphria’s former CSO. Other C-level members like Tim Moore and Eli Dusenbury were also part of the early cannabis boom related to public markets. Now, they’ve all taken positions at Havn.
The company is focused on two clear initiatives that it has already begun executing on, Havn Labs and Havn Retail. Through Havn Labs, the company aims to standardize the supply of psychedelics to support new therapies, and it has already received its first Health Canada license. Havn Life has already begun supplying companies with psychedelic compounds.
Through Havn Retail, the company aims to develop unique formulations that deliver natural health benefits through products designed to increase bioavailability for quality outcomes.
Late last month, Havn announced a letter of intent with nutraceutical company Hypha Wellness Jamaica Psilocybin. The companies aim working towards joint research and producing standardized powdered homogenizedpsilocybin mushroom active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) products. Of course, this is subject to compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Dr. Ivan Casselman, Chief Psychedelic Officer of Havn Life. “Havn Life’s work in Jamaica is aimed at furthering our mandate of supplying safe, quality controlled, psilocybin medicine to researchers and patients around the globe. We want to supply as many researchers as we can with naturally derived compounds and this partnership will bring us one step closer to our goal of building an international psychedelic supply chain framework.”
As the market awaits the final outcome of the LOI, HAVLF stock has managed to climb in April. Since the 1st, the psychedelic stock has jumped from around 50 cents to highs this week of $0.567 so far.
2. Seelos Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SEEL)
At this point, Seelos has flirted with the upper limit of the penny stock range. The last 6 sessions have seen SEEL stock grapple with levels above the $5 mark. It even reached highs of $5.75 earlier this week. Needless to say, there may still be time to talk about it as a penny stock.
To its benefit, Seelos carries weight in the industry. Specifically, it’s the heaviest weighted position in the newly launched Horizons Psychedelic Stock Index ETF (NEO: PSYK), of which HAVN is also part of. It comprises roughly 18% of the ETF and outweighs Compass, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), and Abbvie (NYSE: ABBV) combined.
So why is Seelos such a popular psychedelic stock in the newly minted ETF? Much of the excitement has to do with the company’s advancements in its SLS-002 treatment platform. This is Seelos’ intranasal ketamine product candidate currently in investigational development programs for treating suicidality, depression, and PTSD.
This week Seelos announced a strategic partnership with AptarGroup Inc. This will allow for the co-exclusive use and supply of Aptar’s Bidose Liquid System (BDS). It’s an FDA-approved system for the delivery of therapeutics. In this case, Seelos said it was “ideal” for intranasal therapies like SLS-002.
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It’s also worth mentioning that data from its Part 1 proof-of-concept study of SLS-002 in suicidal patients is expected this quarter. So if SEEL is on your list, keep this in mind.
3. Aikido Pharma Inc.
Aikido is more of a newcomer to the list of psychedelic penny stocks to watch right now. The company first announced its foray into the industry earlier this year with a licensing agreement for psilocybin for cancer applications.
Fast-forward a few months, and now Aikido is sponsoring psychedelic research. Most recently, this was at the Mount Sinai Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research. The Center examines the therapeutic potential of psychedelic compounds for PTSD and other trauma-related symptoms.
“More specific to the company’s support, the Center will be embarking on clinical trials with MDMA and psilocybin. As part of these studies, the Center will be collecting blood samples and performing neuroimaging before and after therapy to identify biomarkers that predict and correlate with positive treatment outcome.”
This week, Aikido granted a sublicense to technology for targeted psilocybin treatment of neuro-inflamed tissue in cancer patients. CEO Anthony Hayes explained that this complements the research at Mount Sinai. So with more focus on R&D for Aikido and its tie-in with major institutions like Mount Sinai, it could be one of the psychedelic penny stocks to watch this year.
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*End Notes:
- HHS Data: https://www.hhs. gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html
- Jouranal of Psychopharmacology: https://journals.sagepub. com/doi/full/10.1177/0269881117691453
