There was a resurgence within the debate concerning the scientific use of Psychedelic therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP). There’s been elevated legalization of drugs and ketamine has been the most-studied psychedelic drug for its promising response to treating psychological well being circumstances particularly in relation to therapeutic sufferers from previous trauma in addition to anxiousness and despair. Journey Medical is a market that connects licensed psychological well being professionals with sufferers in search of care to offer psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy beginning with ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. The corporate focuses on a collaborative care mannequin to unlock a brand new care pathway for sufferers for whom conventional pharmacological routes haven’t labored. For psychotherapists on the platform, Journey Medical has constructed the framework to manage these frontier therapies of their practices by way of training, coaching, and peer assist assets. For sufferers, the platform handles eligibility, prescriptions, and the event of remedy plans. Since launching a yr in the past, Journey has attracted 700+ suppliers which have handled 1000+ sufferers.
AlleyWatch caught up with Journey Medical Cofounder and CEO Jonathan Sabbagh to be taught extra concerning the enterprise, the corporate’s strategic plans, newest spherical of funding, and far, far more…
Who have been your buyers and the way a lot did you elevate?Our Sequence A marked a further $8.5M in funding led by Union Sq. Ventures with participation from AlleyCorp, Fifty Years, In a position Companions, Gaingels, Palo Santo, PsyMed Ventures, Coalition Companions, Mystic Ventures, Colibri, Satori Capital, and different notable angel buyers. This spherical brings Journey Medical’s whole funding to ~$12M.
Inform us concerning the services or products that Journey Medical presents.Journey Medical is on a mission to rework the rising psychological well being disaster by accelerating the adoption of frontier therapies that result in lasting enhancements in scientific outcomes. We have now constructed a turnkey healthtech platform to soundly and successfully increase entry to a robust modality often called Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy, the supervised use of psychedelics as an adjunct to psychotherapy. We have now began with Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) and can increase to different psychotherapeutic therapies sooner or later as they proceed to be validated, researched, and accepted for broad use by the FDA. As a two-sided market, Journey Medical’s platform serves each licensed psychological well being professionals and eligible sufferers. For psychotherapists, our platform provides them every thing they should turn into empowered KAP suppliers in their very own observe: on-demand entry to a world-class medical crew, in-depth KAP training and coaching alternatives, entry to a neighborhood of friends, and a strong library {of professional} assets. For sufferers, Journey Medical’s KAP-trained medical crew takes on all medical actions, together with eligibility, prescriptions and remedy plan. This collaborative-care method allows greater requirements of care and enhanced scientific outcomes.
What impressed the beginning of Journey Medical?We’re in the course of a staggering psychological well being disaster, one which has been exacerbated for the reason that begin of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we speak, 1 in 5 adults within the US lives with a type of psychological sickness, and treatment-resistant circumstances are on the rise: roughly 30% of individuals identified with main depressive dysfunction are resistant to standard therapies. Regardless of the 41+ million individuals engaged in psychotherapy, current therapies usually don’t present lasting aid or long-term enhancements in high quality of life. With restricted innovation in psychiatry during the last 50 years and a rising US psychiatrist scarcity, new interventions with profound, sustainable influence are urgently wanted.At Journey Medical, we’re on a mission to rework the psychological well being disaster by accelerating the adoption of frontier therapies to offer sufferers with lasting improved outcomes. We have now constructed a turnkey healthtech platform to soundly and successfully increase entry to a robust modality, often called Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy (PAP), which focuses on the supervised use of psychedelic medicines as an adjunct to psychotherapy.Earlier than we based Journey Medical, there was restricted alternative for sufferers to reliably and affordably entry these transformative therapies. Equally, it was a cumbersome and difficult course of for psychotherapists to supply these therapies as an adjunct to remedy. Journey Medical has constructed a singular platform anchored in a patient-centered collaborative care mannequin that honors the connection between psychotherapists and sufferers, whereas making PAP considerably extra accessible.
How is Journey Medical completely different?Earlier than Journey Medical, accessing Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy was very tough for sufferers. Ketamine remedy is pricey and inaccessible to most sufferers (IV clinics can price hundreds of {dollars} per remedy). Furthermore, ketamine remedy often takes place outdoors the context of psychotherapy. Journey Medical offers sufferers with a turnkey remedy choice that permits them to entry each the medical care and the psychotherapy safely and successfully.
As an alternative of hiring psychological well being practitioners, we empower hundreds of thousands of impartial practitioners within the US to supply psychedelic remedy therapies in their very own observe. By bringing psychedelic-assisted remedy to current therapist-patient relationships, we make KAP extra accessible and efficient for individuals who want it. This can be a recreation changer for practitioners who lack the infrastructure to supply a lot of these therapies. As well as, this mannequin permits psychotherapists to maintain all of their income and develop their enterprise.
Our patient-centered collaborative care mannequin permits us to offer a top quality of care at scale in an unprecedented means: licensed psychotherapists within the community tackle the psychotherapy, whereas Journey Medical’s in-house medical crew takes on affected person eligibility, remedy plan and end result monitoring.
There’s a psychiatrist scarcity within the US, along with a scarcity of psychedelics-informed prescribers. At Journey Medical, now we have a world-class, in-house medical crew skilled in Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy led by Dr. Kyle Lapidus, MD PhD, world knowledgeable in ketamine remedy.
What market does Journey Medical goal and the way massive is it?Presently, 1.3M impartial psychotherapists (together with licensed psychological well being professionals akin to Psychologists, Licensed Psychotherapists, Social Staff) lack entry to ketamine prescribing medical doctors to supply KAP to their sufferers. In the meantime, 50M+ sufferers lack entry to vetted impartial KAP suppliers (main them to go to ketamine chain clinics as a substitute of working with their current psychotherapist).We’re presently working in 7 states throughout the US and within the means of increasing throughout the nation as we construct out our medical crew of prescribers.
What’s what you are promoting mannequin?We cost a membership charge of $200/month to psychotherapists, which supplies them entry to our platform, enabling them to ship KAP of their observe. Our providing contains on-demand entry to a world-class medical crew, in-depth KAP training and coaching alternatives, entry to a neighborhood of friends, and a strong library {of professional} assets. On the affected person aspect, we cost $250 for a one-time medical consumption session and $150 for follow-up classes. We don’t make any cash from the ketamine itself, maintaining prices to a minimal for the affected person.
We cost a membership charge of $200/month to psychotherapists, which supplies them entry to our platform, enabling them to ship KAP of their observe. Our providing contains on-demand entry to a world-class medical crew, in-depth KAP training and coaching alternatives, entry to a neighborhood of friends, and a strong library {of professional} assets. On the affected person aspect, we cost $250 for a one-time medical consumption session and $150 for follow-up classes. We don’t make any cash from the ketamine itself, maintaining prices to a minimal for the affected person.
How are you making ready for a possible financial slowdown?At Journey Medical, we offer high-quality psychological well being remedy at scale throughout a time when psychological well being challenges are extra prevalent than ever. The necessity for efficient psychological well being care is large — the market measurement being greater than 50 million individuals and rising, and the variety of individuals in remedy now being ~40 million. We see an awesome want for the service we offer.We’ve been in a position to function at a lean capability and guarantee excessive progress during the last quarter within the midst of a market downturn. Our elevate permits us to have enough runway to proceed to develop the group. As founders, we perceive the significance of remaining lean as now we have been in a position to do efficiently since launching on the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless of the market downturn, we have been in a position to elevate capital from a Tier 1 investor, giving us confidence to proceed to scale and preserve bold progress targets.
What was the funding course of like?Our most up-to-date spherical was an $8.5M Sequence A. We had an incredible quantity of curiosity: we have been oversubscribed and proud to have partnered with Union Sq. Ventures because the lead. That is actually a testomony to the standard of our mannequin and the necessity to construct efficient, scalable psychological well being options.
What are the largest challenges that you just confronted whereas elevating capital?Each fundraise is difficult in its personal means, usually an train of dealing with rejection with grace. As well as, we have been elevating throughout a market downtown, which was difficult in and of itself – the general temper of buyers was conservative at greatest. Regardless of this, we ended up with an incredible quantity of curiosity: we have been oversubscribed this spherical and efficiently raised this spherical with Union Sq. Ventures because the lead. That is actually a testomony to the standard of our mannequin and the necessity to construct efficient, scalable psychological well being options.
What elements about what you are promoting led your buyers to write down the test?As Rebecca Kaden wrote in USV’s thesis about Journey Medical:
“Within the face of this, PAP (psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy) stands out as a transformational alternative. PAP facilities on therapists using psychedelics of their work with sufferers. Medical trials, which now quantity within the hundreds, present outsized outcomes which are each efficient for sufferers with circumstances which are immune to different therapies and considerably longer lasting.
The chance round PAP and USV’s thesis round highly effective networks which are transformational to the markets they’re in-built led us to Journey Medical. Journey is constructing a decentralized clinic and B2B market, empowering psychotherapists to offer psychedelic therapies to their sufferers. The platform offers coaching, neighborhood, and assist for its therapist members in addition to entry to a protected and thorough prescribing community for his or her sufferers. Sufferers can in flip now entry new remedy choices by way of their current trusted suppliers in a protected and supervised means. As we speak, this implies the community of Journey therapists is ready to make the most of ketamine for KAP (ketamine-assisted psychotherapy), which has been an FDA-approved drug for many years and has emerged as an essential choice for treating despair. Because the examined and accepted therapies increase–with MDMA and psilocybin deep in scientific trials and displaying very promising outcomes–Journey’s providing will, too.”
What are the milestones you intend to realize within the subsequent six months? Within the subsequent six months, we plan to proceed a speedy improve in our platform progress and utilization. We have already got robust shopper acquisition and retention for psychotherapists and sufferers alike, and can work to maintain and enhance our metrics whereas persevering with to construct out a compelling providing that addresses the wants of our stakeholders. We’re additionally seeking to rent for a lot of key roles, together with management roles.
Within the subsequent six months, we plan to proceed a speedy improve in our platform progress and utilization. We have already got robust shopper acquisition and retention for psychotherapists and sufferers alike, and can work to maintain and enhance our metrics whereas persevering with to construct out a compelling providing that addresses the wants of our stakeholders. We’re additionally seeking to rent for a lot of key roles, together with management roles.
What recommendation are you able to supply firms in New York that wouldn’t have a contemporary injection of capital within the financial institution?The primary piece of recommendation that I’d supply is to deal with remaining lean and maintaining burn down as we head into more and more difficult market circumstances.The subsequent is to keep up the resilience and relentlessness to maintain going by way of the method of chatting with buyers. Each founder goes by way of the tough means of rejection. I’d deal with taking that rejection, waking up the subsequent morning, and maintain going. Discovering routines in your life that permit you to really feel rejection or tough feelings might help, and remembering that you just’re not alone–rejection is part of the method of being a founder, and you need to maintain going.Lastly, it’s actually essential to imagine in your mission, your self, and having religion in your capacity to construct a tremendous enterprise. Not solely will this mindset provide help to, but it surely’s additionally one thing that basically resonates with buyers too.
The place do you see the corporate going now over the close to time period?We have now established ourselves because the #1 answer for enabling psychological well being professionals to include Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy of their observe at scale. We see ourselves cementing our place because the market chief within the house, and persevering with to develop to offer these therapies to as many eligible sufferers as doable.
What’s your favourite restaurant within the metropolis?
Shoo Shoo by my good buddy Albert Bitton.
