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Irie Selkirk
Founder, Consultant, Entrepreneur, Retreat Operator | Doing for psychedelic businesses what mycelium does with the forest 🌳
Irie Selkirk is a multifaceted entrepreneur and industry pioneer specializing in wellness, psychedelics, and cannabis.1 As the Founder of Rise Collective, she brings extensive experience and expertise to the field of psychedelic businesses.2
Professional Ventures
Rise Collective: Irie Selkirk founded Rise Collective in July 2024, where she currently serves as the Founder.7 In this role, she applies her entrepreneurial skills to advance the psychedelic industry, drawing parallels between her work and the interconnected nature of mycelium in forests.2
Other Notable Ventures:
- Co-founder and Director of Rise Wellness Retreat in Jamaica, which offers psilocybin experiences.36
- Co-founder of Sansero Life Sciences, a company focused on psilocybin bioscience, including cultivation and research.34
- Co-founder of Good Cap Femme Studios.4
Expertise and Contributions
Irie Selkirk is recognized as a social entrepreneur, consultant, and advisor in the wellness, psychedelics, and cannabis sectors.1 Her work spans various aspects of these industries, including:
- Providing low-dose psilocybin retreats through Rise Wellness.4
- Conducting guided meditations, such as Box Breathing sessions.5
- Offering insights and expertise at industry events, such as Prohibition Partners LIVE.3
Through her diverse roles and ventures, Irie Selkirk has established herself as a prominent figure in the evolving landscape of psychedelic businesses and wellness initiatives.
Highlights
I watched the #MAPS Lykos Therapeutics Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC) meeting on #midomafetamine (MDMA) this week. Here’s why it mattered to me & what went down.
Personally, MDMA played a significant role in shaping who I am today. It shaped my worldview in the early 1990s. Professionally, I’m interested in integrating them into retreats with Rise Collective.
The meeting was a testament to the dedication of the team and the transformative impact of #MDMA on patients. The testimonies were moving, showing clear benefits over placebo in trials. They showed commitment to bringing this therapy to market with positive outcomes for patients.
But I also saw testimonies from many expressing deep concerns around the trials and a spiritual health narrative around MAPS, that was referred to as "cult-like".
They cited egregious sexual misconduct; use of unlicensed therapists; lack of qualified or quantified psychological intervention); concerns around the REMS (risk evaluation and mitigation strategies; lack of biological data, specifically cardiovascular health; risk of misuse; and non-reported adverse events.
Lykos addressed the REMS concerns with their staged roll-out plan of a safe and #FDA and DEA compliant Controlled Distribution Pathway, offering therapies in certified, controlled settings using a limited number of pharmacies in order to collect more data to inform continued REMS.
Ultimately the panel voted NO 9-2 on whether the available data show that midomafetamine is effective in patients with PTSD and NO 10-1 on whether the benefits of midomafetamine with FDA’s proposed REMS outweigh its risks.
This isn't the end..this recommendation from the PDAC will be considered by the FDA during their review, Numinus press released reminding us that advisory committees, like PDAC, make non-binding recommendations to the FDA and Lykos emailed shareholders to say that: "data from 2008 to 2015 found that the FDA acted against advisory committee advice 22% of the time".
Not great odds, but there are a lot of hopes and investment in this and the people I've spoken to remain cautiously optimistic. They will look to August 11, 2024 when the FDA’s decision is expected by the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA).
Lastly, I watched this whole meeting because my own drug development company, GoodCap Pharmaceuticals Inc. is also targeting PTSD.
We have a very different approach, as we're using a low-dose novel combination of #psilocybin and potentiating molecules that targets #inflammation; doesn't require therapeutic oversight; can be easily prescribed similar to other OTC medications; and that utilizes well-characterized molecules with high safety profiles.
I wanted to see how the panel responded to concerns around the treatment of #PTSD and how our team can learn from this all as we navigate the pipeline of #psychedelic pharmaceutical drug development. We're buckled up...what a time to be alive!
Is this your time for a transformational journey? We've got one room left for Rise Collective's All-inclusive Psilocybin Retreat, March 18-22nd in Jamaica! Details and how to join us in the comments 🍄 Mention this post for a discounted rate ✅
