In this edition of “Rising High,” The Fly conducted an exclusive interview with Michael Mullette, chief operating officer of MAPS Public Benefit Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. Here are some highlights:
COO APPOINTMENT: MAPS PBC, which seeks to catalyze healing and well-being through psychedelic drug development, therapist training programs and sales of prescription psychedelics, appointed Michael Mullette as COO in March. Mullette, who has spent over 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, most recently served as vice president and managing director of North America for Moderna (MRNA), where he oversaw commercialization of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine. “The aim of my role is to help as we shift from an organization that was focused on development of MDMA-assisted therapy to one focused on commercialization and licensure approval of that therapy,” he said. “Those skill sets are different and those experiences are different as we start to think about entering the marketplace. Hopefully we’re just a short time away from an actual launch.” Coming from Moderna, the COO said any company developing a pharmaceutical product for commercialization has a lot to consider. “There are rules and regulations by which we are allowed to engage with the medical community as well as the consumer community that we need to stand up and be ready for as an organization,” he said. “There are internal processes, systems and tools that we need to build to be able to support access for patients upon approval and these things take time.” Mullette said while the world of vaccines and MDMA-assisted therapy on paper seem quite different, the activities MAPS PBC will need to conduct as an organization are quite similar. ”We need to work with payors to support reimbursement, we need to work with healthcare providers to help ensure that accurate scientific data has been disseminated appropriately and then eventually post-launch, we need to communicate benefit and safety of product to the consumers in a way that can be trusted,” he said.