British Psychedelic-Drug Firm Eleusis Plans $450 Million SPAC Deal

  • Company will be valued at $446 million after combination
  • Psilocybin-based drug to enter early stage human trials soon

Magic mushrooms, psilocybe semilanceata.

Photographer: Andrew Hasson/Getty Images

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Eleusis, a health-care company focused on using psychedelic drugs as medicines, is going public through a merger with a blank-check firm.

The U.K.-based company will combine with Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. II in a deal with an enterprise value of $446 million, according to a statement Thursday that confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report. It will provide Eleusis with gross proceeds of as much as $288 million, the amount raised by the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, in its initial public offering in March.