Psychedelic: Exclusive talk with ibogaine clinic Beond

In this edition of “Psychedelic”, The Fly conducted an exclusive interview with Tom Feegel, CEO and co-founder of Beond, an ibogaine treatment center located in Cancun, Mexico. Here are some highlights:

TRANSFORMATIVE JOURNEYS: Beond seeks to combine the power of ibogaine, proprietary safety protocols, and best-in-class behavioral therapies delivered by licensed doctors, nurses, therapists and coaches to facilitate a future where healing transforms lives, not just treats symptoms. The company has already conducted over 6,000 medically supervised ibogaine treatments at its luxury clinic.

“Our strategy is built on three key pillars,” Feegel said. “The first would be uncompromising medical safety. We have eleven full-time licensed, credentialed doctors and 23 Intensive Care Unit-certified nurses. We have all the clinical infrastructure that anyone would expect to find in a hospital in a major metropolitan city in the United States.”

Beond also offers a differentiated guest experience integrating mind, body and spirit, which serves as the second pillar of its strategy, he said.

“Every guest is given an experience that is hyper personalized,” the CEO said. “Of course, we use the same clinical backbone, but everybody is different. Every indication or reason they are here is different, so we have to be able to provide the experience that they need.”

The company, which is voluntarily HIPAA-compliant, is also rigorously tracking outcomes regarding the treatments, marking the third pillar of Beond’s strategy, he said.

“We have a very robust digital data platform that we use to gather anonymized outcome data related to every interaction that we have with our guests,” Feegel said. “That way we can improve the performance of our treatment protocols, our safety protocols and contribute to global understanding of this technology, ibogaine, when it is used in this way.”

Beond blends the professionalism of a licensed, credentialed medical facility with the purpose-driven environment of a mental health treatment environment, the inspiration and innovation of a psychedelic retreat center, and the comforts of a luxury resort, he said.

“It’s not a hospital, a mental health facility, a retreat or a resort, it’s all those things combined,” the CEO said. “Most providers in the psychedelic sector focus very narrowly. They’re either focused on clinical safety or a psychospiritual experience. At Beond we are bringing clinical safety, hospitality, mental healthcare and personal development all together.”

IBOGAINE FOCUS: As interest rises around psychedelic treatments, Feegel said Beond chose to focus on ibogaine due to its effectiveness and uniqueness.

“Many psychedelics make people report that they feel like they go out of themselves into another dimension,” he said. “They might feel open to new ideas, they might look at situations in nature differently, but most of the observations are outside themselves. Ibogaine, in the spectrum of psychedelics, is unique in so far as it is entirely introspective.”

The experience of the alkaloid is very self-referential, the CEO said, and it usually focuses a user’s attention on the most meaningful memories of their lives.

“Those memories are not re-experienced,” he said. “We are able to observe them but not re-experience them. When that happens for a person, it reframes their perspective on the past, including the painful parts. That relates to their sense of identity and their present.”

Feegel noted many people in the world suffering from mental health challenges are experiencing present conflict from past trauma, leading to anxiety, depression or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“As a result of that, some people need relief and they find maladapted relief in the form of chemicals or chemical dependency,” he said. “Sometimes that is pharmaceuticals and sometimes that is an illicit substance. Ibogaine uniquely addresses those full-spectrum challenges, reframing the pain of the past so that the pain is no longer a limiting belief, but can actually feel like a meaningful sense of purpose going forward.”

Ibogaine is also unique on a neurochemical level, upregulating a certain protein, GDNF, which changes brain chemistry, the CEO said.

“It often gives people a sense of passion to heal, to learn and to grow,” he said. “It resets Serotonin 1 and 2 systems, which contributes to much less mood variability. For most people, the best that pharmaceutical technology has ever done for them is to numb this feeling of being depressed or anxious. Ibogaine resets the key parts of the brain so they no longer crave or feel a dependency on substances like opioids. There is a combination of effect that ibogaine represents that no other psychedelic seems to, which is psychospiritual transformation as well as neurochemical reset. When you put those things together, you have a profound, meaningful, and personal transformation in one treatment as opposed to ongoing symptom management.”

GUEST EXPERIENCE: Beond provides a comprehensive and holistic approach to individual wellness through ibogaine-assisted therapy and a range of supportive services that are designed to address the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of recovery.

“Prior to deciding to come, guests have already gone through a complete clinical evaluation, physical and psychiatric, with one or more of our full-time physicians,” Feegel said. “They’ve been screened and received a physician’s guidance and feedback to support their decision. When they arrive, we do a full additional clinical evaluation on site. We have our own laboratory and we do all of our own lab work, electrocardiograms, psychiatric assessments, urinary drug tests and blood panels, so we have a complete and clear picture of where someone is.”

Guests then have the option from approximately 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. to participate in a range of therapeutic activities, which could include meditation training, fitness, sound healing, art therapy, music therapy and body work or massage, he said.

“All of those activities are complemented by the one-on-one therapeutic coaching,” the CEO said. “They could also, in between those things or instead of those things, schedule direct interaction with a trained professional therapeutic coach. That is going to help them feel prepared for the utilization of the ibogaine and to integrate the utilization of the ibogaine, so that they feel like they are making the most of the experience.”

When participants take ibogaine, which is delivered orally in a small capsule, it is a very private experience in a treatment room with the same technology, talent, training and protocols as a person would expect in an ICU, he said.

“However, it doesn’t look like an ICU,” the CEO said. “It very beautiful with custom lighting, noise cancelling technology, aromatherapy, custom playlists, etc. The staff members that are present for the entire time are trained to monitor and to support the guests. We are using a twelve lead EKG machine, an IV to make sure guests are hydrated and receiving magnesium and other electrolytes, a blood pressure cuff and key other technologies. The clinical staff needs to know what is going on for the guests during the experience.”

Guests can experience ibogaine one or more times, depending on why they came to Beond and how they tolerate the treatment, he said.

“If they tolerate it well and they are progressing therapeutically, then we may have the option of continuing the ibogaine in multiple sessions, where there is a 24- to 48-hour period in between each session,” Feegel said. “Guests come for somewhere between seven and 14 days, depending upon what their objectives are.”

Following the treatment, participants are supported to work on integrating their insights from the experience into their daily lives, a process that the CEO said is fundamental and starts at the very beginning of the Beond experience.

“What we are preparing for is someone identifying meaningful, insightful new perspectives on their past, especially limiting painful beliefs, and activating a way of designing a new way of living in all the key dimensions of their life,” he said. “We developed workbooks, which take people through every phase of preparation for ibogaine, as well as integration after ibogaine. There are a series of exercises that they can do on their own, they can do with support of a therapeutic coach or we have a workshop model, where they can discuss the key questions related to integration.”

Beond has also developed a digital app where alumni can commune and access the information that Beond uses before, during and after its programs, Feegel said.

“Thousands of people have been to Beond, but there are hundreds of people on this app that are using these tools in more of a public forum,” Feegel said. “There are discussion boards, polls, recommendations for reading, creative expression, meditation and nutrition tools and these exercises are easily accessible right on the phone in their pocket. We also have a weekly alumni integration zoom, which is free and is facilitated by one of our therapeutic coaches. And an individual can also continue to work with their therapeutic coach long after they leave Beond on a weekly basis if they choose to do so.”

BEOND SERVICE: Beond has also introduced Beond Service, an ibogaine-assisted treatment developed by veterans to enable veterans, first responders and their spouses to recover and rediscover purpose, resilience and peace.

“Beond Service is among our proudest initiatives,” the CEO said. “We provide zero cost access to ibogaine treatment for veterans, first responders and their partners, suffering from PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury and the symptoms thereof. It is a nine-week program that is funded by Beond and partner philanthropic organizations. The only cost that the veteran, first responder, or partner pays is their travel.”

The program is staffed with peers from the community of veterans and first responders, who have not only experienced ibogaine but have been trained and certified to facilitate the nine-week program, he said.

“It’s a cohort model,” Feegel said. “There are usually five to six individuals that have applied, gone through the clinical evaluations, been approved and signed up for the program. They meet weekly as a group for four weeks before they even come to Mexico. This preparation and engagement is mandatory. When they arrive, they all arrive together and in Cancun, they are met in a secure area of the airport by our ground transportation staff and brought to Beond.”

The company has a special facility specifically designed for Beond Service, where participants all stay together in a comfortable, clean and modern environment, he said.

“They have intimacy, camaraderie and community that really amplifies their individual healing,” the CEO said. “After they spend eight days with us at Beond and they do multiple ibogaine treatments, all covered by the same strict safety protocols as our civilian programs, they are discharged, they leave Beond, they go back home and they continue for four more weeks of additional remote one-on-one integration and group integration.”,

SCHEDULING: Several psychedelics are listed as Schedule I drugs under the Controlled Substances Act including ibogaine and Feegel said he believes the scheduling slows domestic access for the treatment.

“Most people assume that the reason a substance is listed as Schedule I is because there is, like the FDA says, no medical use, it is likely to be abused or addictive and there is some risk that can’t be mitigated or managed,” he said. “They assume the Schedule I status in the U.S. means ibogaine should not be accessible, but I think that is shifting because of the work by Americans for Ibogaine, and others. It just underscores the need for international leaders like Beond to have the ability to contribute to the research in states like Texas and elsewhere, which is accelerating. We expect ibogaine to follow the path of psilocybin towards rescheduling eventually.”

The CEO added ibogaine should always only be utilized in a medical setting with a trained, qualified physician and clinical support staff to properly evaluate an individual and administer ibogaine safely.

“What we’re seeing in the context of ibogaine is what we have seen in the context of other natural plant medicines and psychedelics that play a role in clinical care, that has not been met by pharmaceuticals,” he said. “If pharmaceutical technologies had satisfied the goals of their consumers or the physicians that prescribe them, then there would be no role for ibogaine or psilocybin or anything else. They haven’t met the need, shown by the urgency of Texas and other states allocating funds to ibogaine research. The research is going to show the results that we see every day in our safe data-driven models and we are eager to help regulators and policymakers to allow physicians to safely administer ibogaine.”

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: In the 2024 election, Donald Trump was elected president and in subsequent months, several of his administration’s appointees have made positive remarks regarding psychedelics.

“I applaud the administration and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in particular for championing interest in psychedelics,” Feegel said. “It appears that psychedelics have bipartisan support, because the people that are using them therapeutically and safely are seeing outcomes that are not achievable consistently with any other available medication. We expect research funding and policy change to continue regardless of whether it’s the Trump administration, because people care about veterans and about family members who are suffering and these policy shifts are driving acceptance.”

CHALLENGES: When asked about the largest hurdles facing the psychedelic space, the CEO noted that the sector is still in very early stages and fostering education around the treatments is necessary.

“We have to understand and embrace that education around safety, credibility and integration is fundamental to the successful use of these substances therapeutically,” he said. “There are still too many people in the U.S. and elsewhere who believe that big challenges deserve quick fixes, and we don’t believe that at all. The work that we have the privilege of doing with our guests is proving that when psychedelic medicine is delivered with medical rigor and support, the results are not only safer but they’re sustainable and they’re durable.”

OPPORTUNITIES: As the psychedelic industry develops and matures, Feegel said he sees a future that will include ibogaine as a first choice in mental wellness.

“When these models are proven to be scalable and adaptable to regulatory changes and access is expanded because of successful research and education, then ibogaine will no longer be the choice that people make because nothing else worked,” he said. “They will be willing to consider ibogaine as a first choice for mental health, and not a last resort.”

OTHER PSYCHEDELIC STOCKS: Publicly-traded companies in the space include Algernon Pharmaceuticals (AGNPF), Allied Corp. (ALID), atai Life Sciences (ATAI), BetterLife (BETRF), Bright Minds Biosciences (DRUG), Clearmind (CMND), Compass Pathways (CMPS), Cybin (CYBN), Enveric Biosciences (ENVB), Filament Health (FLHLF), GH Research (GHRS), Incannex (IXHL), Mind Medicine (MNMD), MIRA Pharmaceuticals (MIRA), NRx Pharmaceuticals (NRXP), Numinus Wellness (NUMIF), Pasithea Therapeutics (KTTA), PharmAla Biotech (MDXXF), PharmaTher (PHRRF), Psyence Biomedical (PBM), Psyence Group (PSYGF), Relmada Therapeutics (RLMD), Revive Therapeutics (RVVTF), SciSparc (SPRC), Seelos Therapeutics (SEEL) and Silo Pharma (SILO).