Compass Pathways

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| logo = Compass Pathways logo.png

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| industry = Pharmaceutical; Psychedelic medicine

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| founded = {{Start date and age|2016|June|13}} in London, United Kingdom

| founder = George Goldsmith; Ekaterina Malievskaia

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| hq_location_city = London

| hq_location_country = United Kingdom

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| website = {{URL|https://compasspathways.com/}}

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Compass Pathways, or COMPASS Pathways, is a British pharmaceutical company developing psychedelics as potential medicines.{{cite journal | last1=Aday | first1=Jacob S. | last2=Barnett | first2=Brian S. | last3=Grossman | first3=Dan | last4=Murnane | first4=Kevin S. | last5=Nichols | first5=Charles D. | last6=Hendricks | first6=Peter S. | title=Psychedelic Commercialization: A Wide-Spanning Overview of the Emerging Psychedelic Industry | journal=Psychedelic Medicine | volume=1 | issue=3 | date=1 September 2023 | issn=2831-4425 | doi=10.1089/psymed.2023.0013 | pages=150–165 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373171466 | pmc=11661494 }}{{cite web | last=Travers | first=Mark | title=A Synthetic Psychedelic Is Making Waves In Stubborn Depression Treatment—Here's What You Need To Know | website=Forbes | date=8 July 2024 | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2024/07/08/a-synthetic-psychedelic-is-making-waves-in-stubborn-depression-treatment-heres-what-you-need-to-know/ | access-date=29 January 2025}} Its main drug candidate, psilocybin (COMP360), is currently in phase 3 clinical trials for treatment-resistant depression.{{cite web | title=Psilocybin (COMP360) - COMPASS Pathways | website=AdisInsight | date=20 December 2024 | url=https://adisinsight.springer.com/drugs/800050861 | access-date=29 January 2025}} This candidate has received breakthrough therapy status from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is the most advanced psychedelic drug candidate in development besides Lykos Therapeutics's midomafetamine (MDMA).{{cite journal | vauthors = Rhee TG, Davoudian PA, Sanacora G, Wilkinson ST | title = Psychedelic renaissance: Revitalized potential therapies for psychiatric disorders | journal = Drug Discov Today | volume = 28 | issue = 12 | pages = 103818 | date = December 2023 | pmid = 37925136 | doi = 10.1016/j.drudis.2023.103818 | url = https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mztRkW7vJu7KjpE1xKUyZoObWJ5QvEmt/view }}

Compass Pathways is the largest company in the psychedelic medicine industry and, in 2020, was the first psychedelic medicine company to be listed on the NASDAQ. It has faced criticism for patenting psychedelic drugs and even certain psilocybin mushroom species.{{cite journal | vauthors = Tvorun-Dunn M | title = Acid liberalism: Silicon Valley's enlightened technocrats, and the legalization of psychedelics | journal = Int J Drug Policy | volume = 110 | issue = | pages = 103890 | date = December 2022 | pmid = 36279734 | doi = 10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103890 | url = }} In October 2024, after the FDA rejected Lykos Therapeutics's MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) New Drug Application (NDA), Compass Pathways said that it would lay off 30% of its workforce and narrow its research focus.{{cite web | last=Jensen | first=Kristin | title=Compass delays anticipated psilocybin readout, cuts staff | website=BioPharma Dive | date=31 October 2024 | url=https://www.biopharmadive.com/news/compass-delays-trial-psilocybin-layoffs/731634/ | access-date=29 January 2025}}

Compass Pathways has entered partnerships with several independent psychedelic academic scientists, including Jason Wallach, Hamilton Morris, and Adam Halberstadt among others, to develop novel psychedelic drugs for potential medical use.{{cite magazine | last=Semley | first=John | title=The High-Stakes Race to Engineer New Psychedelic Drugs | magazine=WIRED | date=26 July 2022 | url=https://www.wired.com/story/race-to-engineer-new-psychedelic-drugs/ | access-date=28 January 2025 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20241226123831/https://www.wired.com/story/race-to-engineer-new-psychedelic-drugs/ | archive-date = 26 December 2024 }}{{cite web | last=Wood | first=Sam | title=Envisioning a psychedelic future for Philadelphia's USciences as it pairs with Compass Pathways for a Drug Discovery Center | website=inquirer.com | date=15 February 2021 | url=https://www.inquirer.com/business/drugs/psychedelics-compass-pathways-wallach-university-of-the-sciences-usciences-20210215.html | access-date=28 January 2025 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20210215145316/https://www.inquirer.com/business/drugs/psychedelics-compass-pathways-wallach-university-of-the-sciences-usciences-20210215.html | archive-date = 15 February 2021 }}{{cite web | author=Ben Seal | title=A Psychedelic Renaissance | date = May 2024 | website=Saint Joseph's University Magazine | url=https://www.sju.edu/news/magazine/psychedelic-renaissance | access-date=28 January 2025}}{{Cite web |last1=Hausfeld |first1=Russel |last2=Nickles |first2=David |date=September 22, 2021 |title=Hamilton Morris Hired by Psilocybin Startup COMPASS Pathways, Ends "Hamilton's Pharmacopeia" On Vice |url=https://www.psymposia.com/magazine/hamilton-morris-hired-by-psilocybin-startup-compass-pathways-ends-hamiltons-pharmacopeia-on-vice/ }}{{cite web | title=Psychedelic Compounds are Focus of USciences Lab | website=Newsroom | date=18 October 2021 | url=https://www.sju.edu/news/psychedelic-compounds-are-focus-usciences-lab | access-date=9 January 2025}}{{cite web | author=COMPASS Pathways | title=COMPASS Pathways expands its Discovery Center through new collaborations with world-leading scientists | website=GlobeNewswire News Room | date=9 February 2021 | url=https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/02/09/2172080/0/en/COMPASS-Pathways-expands-its-Discovery-Center-through-new-collaborations-with-world-leading-scientists.html | access-date=28 January 2025}} Wallach's lab is said to have sought patents for over 200{{nbsp}}novel compounds as of May 2024.

Compass Pathways switched from being a nonprofit organization to a for-profit company in 2016. The pharmaceutical company has been backed and funded by a number of tech entrepreneurs such as Peter Thiel.