Numinus Wellness is in the business of psychedelic medicine but, more importantly, the mental health business.
The mental health business is a sector that will be worth an estimated $530 billion dollars by the year 2030.
Numinus has already seen more than a 618% increase in Q1 revenue compared to the same period last year due to both acquisition and increasing client demand.
Here with us to talk all things Numinus Wellness is the Founder and CEO, Payton Nyquvest. Thanks for taking the time for us.
TMH: First things first, what was the whole reason for starting this company?
PN: I come to this space as a patient, first and foremost. I’m someone who suffered from severe chronic pain since birth and have been very involved with mental health and physical health from a very young age trying to rectify those issues and couldn’t, so I turned to psychedelic therapy as a last-ditch effort to try and save my own life and did so and coming out of that experience was really just how could we support something or how could I support something that had made such a profound impact in my own life and that’s really the impetus for why Numinus exists today.
TMH: I understand Numinus Wellness is on track to becoming the first public psychedelic company to be profitable. How are you setting out to achieve this?
PN: It’s always been for us the effort has been how do we build something sustainable and scalable, and that’s really looking at psychedelic therapy as not just sort of a silver bullet, but it’s really a tool within a mental health toolbox that is really, really necessary and so we’ve built a platform that relies on a host of mental health services with psychedelic therapy, really sort of being the cornerstone of all of the platform that we’ve created.
TMH: Looking at your recent earnings report, I understand your revenue grew 37.5% compared to last quarter, to over $5.7 million dollars in the most recent quarter. Your client appointment numbers also continue to increase. Why do you think the company saw this success, and can you explain how you achieved those numbers?
PN: We’ve grown through a number of acquisitions and, with that, have a team that we would say is probably best in class in regard to not only clinical operations but also understanding research and understanding where this industry is going but with that, again, with a very keen eye on continuing to improve efficiencies and increase the margin. I think of all of the numbers that were in our most recent financials, we improved our margin by about 10 percentage points from the previous quarter, which is something we’re extremely proud of, and I think from continuing to build the revenue, we’ve always focused on being the place that practitioners want to work at. We pride ourselves a lot in the work we do to continue to support practitioners, and that’s where we see the largest bottleneck in this space. We’re very grateful to continue to show success.
TMH: In some places in the world, Vancouver specifically, there is an opioid crisis which was declared a public health emergency in 2016. Do you foresee psychedelic medicine potentially helping this situation?
PN: Absolutely. You’re seeing this large paradigm shift in mental healthcare more broadly, whether it’s opiate addiction, suicide, depression, anxiety, these are all rates that continue to climb, and I think we’ve recognized while there have certainly been efforts, we’re not doing a good job of treating mental health issues. I think with that, the paradigm shift that I think psychedelics are really at the forefront of is we’re moving from symptom management in regard to mental health treatments to curative intent, and that’s a pretty loaded term. Still, I think what psychedelics are showing is they do have the potential for curative intent, and we need that kind of intention now more than ever before.
TMH: I wanted to touch on the acquisition of Novamind because it gave a lot of momentum to the company, increasing the number of clinics. In more detail, can you go into the rippled success you have seen from this?
PN: I think obviously continuing to grow the clinic base was extremely important to us, but Novamind really has been an industry leader in regards to the integration of psychedelic therapy within a mental healthcare structure, highlighted by a few things. One, their work with ketamine, they’ve done about $15 million dollars worth of fully reimbursed ketamine treatments. They’re one of the largest insurance-reimbursed ketamine providers in the country. Still, also, the efforts around being a clinical trial site management organization give us the opportunity to work with a host of other psychedelic companies. We now work with pretty much all the major stakeholders within the psychedelic space but also other drug development companies. Still, it allows us to get very familiar with these different psychedelic products before they’re approved so that we can continue to ideate and innovate our clinic model based on where we see the space going, and that’s been a great business for us and also strategically a really big opportunity for us as well.
TMH: As you know, many different psychedelic companies are on the market. What is something that makes Numinus stand out?
PN: I think exactly what we’ve been talking about in regard to a very clear path to profitability. And I think for us, and more importantly our clients, we benefit regardless of which drug or which regulatory pathway psychedelics take And it’s kind of in a unique model at the moment of you’re seeing FDA clinical trials that are being done, but you’re also seeing states and provinces start to just move to a legal access model for psychedelics, and we benefit regardless of which pathway that takes and in our commitment to continuing to serve our clients the best, and I think that’s what really sets us apart in the industry.
TMH: And lastly, do you have anything else you would like to add?
PN: I just appreciate the time, and as we look towards the future, I think the psychedelic industry, in particular, 2023 is just a monumental year for this space, obviously with MAPS, who we’ve had a relationship with for a number of years now, and MDMA expected to be legalized as a treatment towards the end of this year, early part of next year. You’ve seen Oregon now legalize psilocybin, and other states have started to follow suit as well. So, I think this year, in particular, is just a massive year for the space and, most importantly, for people in need. So, it’s a very exciting time.
It’s been a pleasure; thanks for joining us and answering our questions, Payton.
Again, we’ve been speaking with Payton Nyquvest, Founder and CEO of Numinus Wellness. To stay up to date on the company, you can find investor information at investors.numinus.com/ or feel free to track them down on the TSX under the ticker symbol NUMI.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by The Market Herald.
