Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals is a Y Combinator alumnus that is working to develop a new type of psychedelic medicine that has all the mental health benefits of psychedelic treatment without the high costs and side effects.
The goal is to use these medicines to help alleviate depression and other mental illnesses.
The company has raised a $39 million round led by Prime Movers Lab and plans to start clinical trials for two different treatments in early 2023.
The treatments are designed to work similarly to psychedelics like psilocybin and DMT, but have been engineered to work faster, last shorter periods of time, or lack hallucinogenic effects altogether. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Jonathan Sporn, believes that these drugs are the future, even though it may take some time to reach the market.