Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/325219 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Citation: 
[Journal:] Finance and Society [ISSN:] 2059-5999 [Publisher:] Cambridge University Press [Place:] Cambridge [Year:] 2025 [Pages:] 1-23
Publisher: 
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Abstract: 
This article traces the shifting fortunes of for-profit psychedelic medicine through two phases: a boom from 2016 to late 2021, followed by a bust that continued through late 2024. It argues that the forces driving this cycle are best understood through the concept of capitalization, which links present valuations to investor expectations about future earnings. Engaging the capital-as-power framework, the article situates psychedelic companies within the broader biopharmaceutical sector, showing how the volatility of drug development is intensified by the unruliness of these substances as capitalized assets. This unruliness stems from a range of factors, including murky intellectual property claims, unpredictable and intense subjective experiences, and lingering cultural stigma. During the boom, firms attracted significant interest from venture capital and other investors by promising revolutionary breakthroughs in mental health treatment. As expectations rose, so did valuations. But disappointing results from clinical trials, regulatory setbacks, and deepening doubts about the ability to control and standardize psychedelic therapies led to sharp declines in investor confidence. Analyzing financial performance alongside investor narratives, the article underscores the tensions involved in subjecting these unruly substances to the logic of capitalist power.
Subjects: 
capitalization
capital as power
differential accumulation
finance
hype
mental health
pharmaceutical
profit
psychedelics
JEL: 
P1
P12
P14
I11
L65
D3
G3
I14
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
URL of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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