Pasithea Therapeutics is a biotechnology company whose mission is to address brain and mental health disorders. The company was founded in 2020 by Executive Chairman and Stanford Professor Dr. Lawrence Steinman and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Tiago Reis Marques, and went public on NASDAQ in September 2021. It is headquartered in Miami Beach, Florida.
Research and drug development are Pasithea’s primary focus. The company launched a New Chemical Entity development program in October 2021 — a joint initiative with drug discovery firm Evotec. In a press release announcing the program, Dr. Reis Marques stated, “Pasithea aims to advance small molecule therapeutics with a focus on a specific neuroinflammatory pathway implicated in the neurobiology of depression and schizophrenia.” The next month, Pasithea announced the creation of its Scientific Advisory Board, led by psychiatrist Dr. Charles Nemeroff, M.D., Ph.D.
Pasithea is also establishing clinics specifically intended to treat depression via intravenous ketamine therapy. Through a partnership with The I.V. Doc, Pasithea operates mobile clinics that provide in-home treatment to patients in New York and Los Angeles, with plans to expand across the United States. The company also provides services out of three brick-and-mortar locations in the U.K. via its partnership with Zen Healthcare. The first clinic opened in October 2021.
Pasithea’s use of mobile clinics and highly collaborative operations are part of its “capital light” strategy, as Dr. Reis Marques explained in his September 2021 interview with Proactive. Ideally, he said, Pasithea’s clinical trials can be fully funded through clinic revenues. When asked about plans to expand beyond ketamine, Dr. Reis Marques underscored that Pasithea is “building a platform” through which other psychedelic therapeutics can be administered, and shared that the company is working on synthesizing its first novel compounds.