Working with psychedelics: George McBride
George McBride, our Chief Commercial Officer, has been shaping Clerkenwell Health’s story since it was just an idea. Excited by the opportunity to be directly involved in helping people access high quality psychedelic-assisted therapy, he joined the team as a Co-founder to build a business that could "lift all boats" and advance the research and the industry.
“I would like to see Clerkenwell become a profitable and sustainable organisation by supporting drug developers in developing safer and more effective treatments that can be brought to market quicker and more cost-effectively. This means structuring relationships in a way that incentivises quality, efficiency and expediency without compromising on safety or patient-centricity.”
George was a barrister specialising in commercial litigation before moving to the Beckley Foundation, the famed psychedelic research institute. Here he was exposed to a large network of academics working in the psychedelic space and policymakers influential in drug policy. As the Policy Officer at Beckley, he supported Amanda Fielding in her advisory work in Jamaica and their delegation to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs. He was also involved in the public affairs, publicity and communications work that surrounded Imperial's world-first LSD brain imaging study.
George then went on to join Volteface - an innovative drug policy think tank expressing both business and public health voices with a cross-party approach to advocacy. George’s work focused on prison reform, cannabis policy and club drugs with a strong emphasis on how risk management, mental health service provision, pragmatism and realism can improve policy on a range of outcomes.
My time at Volteface was transformative. I learnt to engage people on the other side of the debate, listen and learn. I gained insight into how policy reforms are achieved and how the machinery of politics and government work in the UK. I was privileged to learn so much from so many NGOs, service providers, politicians and campaigners.
Interested in helping North American cannabis companies enter nascent European markets, George co-founded Hanway Associates with Dr Henry Fisher (now Clerkenwell’s CSO) and Alastair Moore (Clerkenwell co-founder). Together, they focussed on mainstreaming the cannabis market through partnerships and worked with a variety of groups including Savills Plc, Crunchbase, GW Pharma and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
George now leads all things commercial at Clerkenwell Health and has been building relationships with drug developers and partners across the world for the last 2 years. His wealth of experience and entrepreneurial approach allows Clerkenwell Health to form relationships that are long-term and flexible at the same time.
I am a firm believer that long-term success is rooted in collaboration and the means to achieving this is structuring relationships for mutual benefit. This means getting to the heart of what is important to each party and doing the hard work in planning to ensure risks, responsibilities and expectations have been set and agreed.
Clinical research is about collaboration, as George emphasises. Psychedelic drug developers cannot bring psychedelic treatments to the market on their own. It has to be through collaboration, by speaking candidly, openly and accurately with one another. George brings the scepticism and critical thinking inherent in barristers’ traits and combines it with his skills in communication nourished in his lobbying and policy background.
The psychedelics sector has a complicated structure for a traditional commercial role to navigate as it requires an understanding of the science, policy, law and fundraising among others. With his deep sector knowledge and network as well as his untraditional background, George has been bringing a contractual, legal and structured approach to our commercial partnerships and arrangements here at Clerkenwell Health.
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About Clerkenwell Health
Clerkenwell Health is a consultancy CRO specialising in bespoke solutions for the development of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies.
The team brings together decades of international regulatory affairs, clinical development strategy, clinical operations, and market access expertise. They support clients by identifying suitable indications, engaging regulators, designing clinically sound and scientifically robust study protocols, putting together and running safety monitoring boards, and submitting scientific grant applications. www.clerkenwellhealth.com