NeonMind CEO Rob Tessarolo Talks About Divestiture Of Assets And New Focus

In the month since we last had an update from NeonMind Biosciences Inc (CNSX: NEON) (OTCMKTS: NMDBF) CEO Rob Tessarolo, there’s been significant news. Today, Tessarolo joins us back on The Dales Report to discuss something huge: how NeonMind announced the divestiture of non-core assets to focus on NEO-001, plans to treat obesity, and standing up delivery clinics for mental health in Canada.

Here’s some highlights from the interview.

With divestiture of assets, NeonMind now officially dedicated to full drug development and clinical focus

Point blank, Tessarolo admits that the divestiture has freed up the company and that drug development and clinics will be NeonMind Biosciences’ new focus.

Tessarolo says the company spent the better part of the first half of 2021 trying to define what the pathway would look like to take identified programs to an NDA designation with the FDA. In doing this, they recognized how far ahead they were in focusing on a very unique indication with psilocybin. Tessarolo says from there, it was a matter of examining non-core assets and ensuring that there was a simple and executable plan without a lot of distractions, creating a business in line with the amount of bandwidth NeonMind had.

The divestiture means that NeonMind will be able to focus on what Tessarolo calls a “high-value shot-on-net” drug development plan using NEO-001 for obesity and the plan to stand up delivery clinics for mental health.

Specialty clinics will serve other interventional psychiatric treatments to start

With divestiture done, NeonMind actively pursues becoming what Tessarolo calls a “trusted partner in interventional psychiatric care.”

Tessarolo says that there are a number of other currently approved interventional psychiatric treatments in Canada that can revolutionize care. These include things like IV ketamine, intranasal esketamine, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Tessarolo believes that these treatment modalities can be more efficiently and effectively deployed throughout Canada since currently their availability is limited to high-density population areas.

The next step before setting up clinics will to be evaluate the right footprint to meet local market needs and become a trusted partner in delivering these currently approved treatments. Once psychedelic modalities are approved by Health Canada, NeonMind will then be in a position to have those specialized settings all ready to deliver that care.

NeonMind to chase the obesity indication and become an early-mover

Tessarolo says that NeonMind is developing their studies in accordance with the FDA guidelines for anti-obesity medications. “If everything pans out,” he says, “we’d be the first company with an indication for obesity … the first treating with psilocybin.”

Other companies would have to move through the same pathway to perform similar treatment, and Tessarolo feels that NeonMind would already have a significant advantage, hence the value in the divestiture and cleaner focus.