Former NHL Player Launches Psychedelics Company

Former NHL player Daniel Carcillo has founded Wesana Health, an emerging life sciences company that will focus on developing psychedelic-assisted therapies to treat traumatic brain injuries.

In addition to officially launching last week, the company announced the close of a $4 million convertible note financing round led by the Counscious Fund and Ambria Capital that will fund preclinical and clinical work around the use of psychedelic-assisted therapy for TBI, as well as regulatory applications, including Investigational New Drug filings with FDA and Investigational Medicinal Product Dossier filings with Health Canada, and also staff and executive hirings.

Carcillo, who played for five teams during his 11-year NHL career, retired in 2015 at age 30 because of post-concussion syndrome. In the years since, he has devoted time to researching development natural-sourced neurological treatment regimens for TBI. He also serves on the board of Heroic Hearts Project, a not-for-profit that helps military veterans struggling with mental trauma to access psychedelic therapy options.

Wesana also announced the following additions to its leadership team:

• Chad Bronstein, executive board chair. A co-founder of Wesana, Bronstein is also currently the CEO of the tech firm Fyllo.
• Dawn McCullough, chief operating officer. With 26 years of experience leading global clinical development activities, McCullough most recently served as head of the medical research operations and research team in late-stage development at Biogen.
• Ian McCall, director of athlete relations. A retired mixed martial arts champion, McCall will work with Carcillo to recruit and enroll athletes who have been diagnosed with TBI and have not been healed through traditional treatment to participate in psychedelic-assisted therapy clinical trials.
• Mitch Kahn, board member. The founder and CEO of Grassroots Cannabis, a private cannabis operation that was recently sold to Curaleaf Holdings, Kahn is also co-founder and chairman of the Chicago-based real estate investment and advisory firm Frontline Real Estate Partners.