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ISTOCK 36 BCBUSINESS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 the magic mushroom that's never been in a clinical trial before, ever," Lightburn says. "Might be even better than psilocybin." L E G A L D O S E S While Canadian companies battle it out to get certified to sell psychedelic mush- rooms domestically, Albert Labs is taking a different approach. The company of 10 employees is domiciled in B.C. with a lab in Burnaby, but it's planning to distribute its products only in the U.K. and continen- tal Europe. Albert Labs is developing its own psychedelic-based drug that it says can help people with cancer. "Because cancer patients are usually taking some kind of drug to fight the disease, they've found it often conflicts with antidepressants, and it turns out it doesn't work for them," says director Frank Lane. "Psychedelics are proving to not conflict with the cancer drug and are more effective than normal antide- pressants generally." To get its treatment to market faster, Albert Labs hopes to use a process com- mon in the U.K. called real-world evidence. Rather than rely on traditional randomized trials to win approval for a drug treatment, this method analyzes data gathered from clinical sources—for example, electronic health records or product and disease reg- istries. "These patients can't wait," Lane says. "They're dying of cancer, suffering from anxiety and depression." For Lane, it's a matter of starting with a known safe product that can quickly get to patients. "Our team has already used that evidence in Europe." It's no coincidence that the U.K., according to Lane, is "very interested in fast-tracking psychedelics if it's an urgent and unmet need, like cancer-related anxi- ety. Brexit has been a positive for the drug agencies there. They want to stand apart from the other European countries, so they've been told, If you see an innovative company, fast-track it." UBC psychology professor Zach Walsh, also an affiliated scientist with the BC Centre on Substance Use, notes that con- sumption of psilocybin as an aid to mental well-being dates back centuries. "These are ancient medicines that have been used for a long time," says Walsh, who runs a research lab focused on therapeutic, recreational and problematic substance use. He thinks they show huge potential. "There's no doubt that as the regulation changes, there's going to be uses for these medicines." Unlike other emerging treatments for PTSD and depression, psychedelics have already been taken by millions of people, Walsh says. "A sizable number of them will say, Yes, they were helpful," adds the consultant to several local psychedel- ics and cannabis companies and adviser to MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) Canada. "So it's not purely based on animal models or drug development." As for when psychedelic therapies might go mainstream, Walsh thinks five years is optimistic. Still, what looks like the easing of prohibition against psychedelics —less than five decades old in Canada—is a return to normal, he argues. "But it's coming back to normal in a different com- mercial environment than there was when they were first driven underground." Because many people don't respond to conventional treatments for depression, we need new approaches, Walsh argues. He isn't sold on waiting for clinical tri- als of psychedelics, partly because these natural substances are unlikely to gener- ate enough intellectual property to justify the expense. "But the lack of clinical trials doesn't prove a lack of efficacy, and the lack of clinical trials doesn't prove a lack of curiosity," Walsh says. "I think we have to start looking at different ways to evalu- ate some of these new medicines." G R O W T H S T R A T E G I E S So far, the Gardens haven't taken outside money to fund their fungi. But that may change, given that the reality of the indus- try is becoming hard to ignore. Even though Eversio has something of a head start on the competition, things are heating up fast. "These companies have a lot more liquidity to deal with," Craig Garden admits. "We had that opportunity very early on, but we chose to wait, really build a foundation and a movement to what we have today. And those comments, those customer reviews are really what make us want to continue swinging through the trenches. Because there are a lot of hard days, man. A lot of long hours." If Eversio does seek investment, it will do so cautiously. "You have to weather some storms, and that's fine; we'll do that," Garden says. "I think our message is clear— we're doing it for the right reasons. We won't sacrifice that for any sum of money or cost-cutting measures." By now, Garden must be used to the puns his surname allows. And, being a father, he can't resist cracking a dad joke or two of his own. "We may not be a publicly traded company that gets all this press, but we don't have to pay for that press either," he says with a smile. "The press we get is organic, and much like the product we put out, that's the best, cleanest way." n SOURCES: MEDICAL NEWS TODAY, HEALTHLINE.COM, NATIONAL CENTER FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY INFORMATION Function or Fiction? Functional mushrooms offer health benefits beyond nutrition, proponents claim. These three have long been used in traditional Asian medicine LION'S MANE This shaggy specimen is believed to boost cognitive function and the immune system; recent clinical studies on mice lend some support to those arguments REISHI Studies over the past few decades have shown the tropical mushroom's cancer- fighting, anti- inflammatory and antioxidant properties, among other benefits TURKEY TAIL In a 2014 clinical trial, U.S. researchers found that this multicoloured fungus can promote healthy gut bacteria. It also shows promise as a complementary cancer treatment, according to a U.S. review that same year of several major mushrooms' immunological roles in oncology