Canadian Biopharmaceutical Company Moves To Downtown St. Pete: EDC

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A Canadian biopharmaceutical company has opened a global base in downtown St. Petersburg.

Cybin, a publicly traded company based in Toronto, has moved into a work collaboration space in the First Central Tower building at 360 Central Ave., according to the St. Petersburg Area Economic Development Corporation blog. It also has a presence in Dublin, Ireland, according to its website.

Leveraging decades of human psychedelic research, the company has created therapeutics that target major depressive disorder, alcohol use disorder, anxiety disorders and neuroinflammation, the EDC said.

Its new St. Pete hub will host global meetings and serve as a think tank for Cybin’s advancements in psychedelic-based treatments, the agency added.

The biopharmaceutical company has a strong research and development pipeline of more than 50 novel psychedelic-based molecules and has raised more than $120 million CAD (Canadian dollars) since 2019 to fund its clinical trials and merger and acquisitions strategy.

Dr. Michael Palfreyman, Cybin’s chief research and development officer, told the St. Petersburg Area EDC that the company was drawn to the city because of its accessibility to and from Europe and the region’s innovation ecosystem.

“Cybin brings together industry experts from the business and science community working together to potentially bring revolutionary treatments to the mental health care landscape,” Palfreyman said. “We looked for a place that our employees and partners would want to go to and could easily access a community with an innovation mindset. St. Petersburg ticked all the boxes as an attractive place to live, work, and visit, and that is easily accessible from all over the world.”