• news
    • Press releases
    • Blog
    • Media Coverage
    • Event
  • Documents
  • About
  • Team
  • funds
    • o2h human health KI EIS
    • o2h human health SEIS
    • o2h human health EIS
  • Portfolio
  • knowledgehub
    • what is KI EIS fund?
  • Contact

o2h-ventures

  • news
    • Press releases
    • Blog
    • Media Coverage
    • Event
  • Documents
  • About
  • Team
  • funds
    • o2h human health KI EIS
    • o2h human health SEIS
    • o2h human health EIS
  • Portfolio
  • knowledgehub
    • what is KI EIS fund?
  • Contact

Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more

Exciting news as o2h Ventures’ portfolio company Small Pharma, unveils positive top-line results of their Phase IIa clinical trial for treating MDD
Jan 31 2023

London, UK: Small Pharma, a biotechnology company listed on the TSXV: DMT and the OTCQB: DMTTF, and a portfolio company of o2h Ventures, announces positive results from its Phase IIa clinical trial of SPL026 with supportive therapy for the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).

Small Pharma is committed to developing short-duration psychedelic-assisted therapies for mental health conditions. The recent announcement of positive results from its Phase IIa clinical trial of SPL026 is a significant step forward in achieving this goal. 

This was the first placebo-controlled trial of its sort, and the findings revealed that two weeks after taking SPL026 in conjunction with supportive therapy, patients saw a statistically significant decrease in depression symptoms. 

The study was structured in two phases with one or two doses of SPL026 throughout the course of a 14-week trial period. 34 individuals with moderate to severe MDD participated in the trial, and after receiving a short infusion of 21.5 mg of SPL026, they experienced psychedelic effects for 20 to 30 minutes. Including the supportive therapy before and after the infusion, the total treatment session was less than 2.5 hours. The treatment’s efficacy was subsequently evaluated, and it was found that 57% of patients who received a single administration of SPL026 were in remission at 3 months. Going forward, Small Pharma seeks to replicate the result of this study in a larger number of patients in later-stage clinical trials. 

o2h Ventures has supported Small Pharma’s mission since 2019 by investing from their human health EIS fund. The company also made a follow-on investment in 2020 to further support Small Pharma’s efforts to develop new and transformative treatments for patients with mental health conditions.

George Tziras, CEO of Small Pharma, said: 

MDD affects the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The scale of the unmet need indicates the importance of investigating alternative new treatments. Our goal is to develop proprietary, scalable and reimbursable short-duration psychedelics with supportive therapy to address this need. I am delighted with our top-line results, which demonstrate proof-of-concept for SPL026 and provide encouraging support for our broader portfolio. I want to thank each patient who took part in this trial, as well as their families, the trial investigators, the employees of the trial sites and everyone who has supported the successful completion of this study.

Sunil Shah, CEO of o2h Ventures, said: 

This is a ‘big’ result, and an exciting one for Small Pharma. Depression affects hundreds of millions of people around the world.  The use of psychedelics as a medicine is still in its infancy, billions are being invested globally to investigate their effects.  For Small Pharma, a London based biotechnology company, to be the first with placebo-controlled clinical data on a short-duration psychedelic drug for Major Depressive Disorder, is a great achievement.  A big congratulations to the team at Small Pharma.

About Small Pharma

Small Pharma is a biotechnology company progressing a pipeline of short-duration psychedelic-assisted therapies for the treatment of mental health conditions. The Company’s current focus is on exploring new therapeutic approaches for depression. Small Pharma’s lead candidate, SPL026, is a proprietary synthetic formulation of DMT. The company is advancing clinical programs of SPL026 and SPL028 with supportive therapy for the treatment of mental health conditions and was granted an Innovation Passport designation from the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (the “MHRA”) for intravenous SPL026 with supportive therapy for MDD. In addition, Small Pharma has a pipeline of proprietary preclinical assets in development.

About o2h Ventures

The o2h Ventures ‘Human Health’ SEIS and EIS funds make tax-efficient investments in Pre-Seed and Seed stage companies that address human disease: we fund the development of novel therapeutic treatments; we help build new services and tools offerings throughout the biotech ecosystem, and we spur the creation of software & artificial intelligence that will change healthcare.

The o2h team are leaders in the biotech community and have been actively involved as investors, holding various board/industry positions as well as being engaged in grassroots scientific activity for over 20 years. o2h Ventures operates from their proprietary 2.7 acre Mill SciTech Park where they are developing a unique model for incubating small life science companies.

Media Contact:

Juhi Shah

Marketing Manager

juhi.shah@o2h.com

Connect with us
  • linkedin
  • youtube
  • email
o2h-ventures
recent press releases
  • o2h-ventures o2h Ventures makes an SEIS Investment into Five Alarm Bio to strengthen anti-ageing science 28 Feb 2023
  • o2h-ventures o2h Ventures backed Kuano wins Innovate UK funding for designing the next generation of cancer drugs 18 Jan 2023
  • o2h-ventures o2h Ventures invests in Qkine – once again… 22 Dec 2022
o2h-ventures
o2h Ventures Limited
Hauxton House,
The Mill SciTech Park,
Mill Lane, Hauxton
Cambridge
CB22 5HX
07341612481
invest@o2h.com
about
  • about us
  • team
  • portfolio
  • funds
insights and news
  • knowledge hub
  • press releases
  • blog
  • event
  • documents
connect with us
  • linkedin
  • youtube
  • email
Please refer to the relevant fund’s full risk warnings contained in their Information Memorandums.
Your capital is at risk. Investing in early stage businesses involves risks, including illiquidity, lack of dividends, loss of investment and dilution, and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. o2h Ventures’ funds are targeted exclusively at sophisticated or high net worth investors who understand these risks and make their own investment decisions. Tax relief depends on an individual’s circumstances and may change in the future. In addition, the availability of tax relief depends on the company invested in maintaining its qualifying status. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. You should not rely on any past performance as a guarantee of future investment performance.
o2h ventures Limited is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 812245). Capital at risk, only suitable for high net worth and sophisticated investors
© 2025 o2h ventures
  • Privacy Policy
  • Blog
  • Contact us

Risk Information

Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk

What are the key risks?

1 – You could lose all the money you invest

• If the business you invest in fails, you are likely to lose 100% of the money you invest. Most start-up businesses fail.

2 – You are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong

• Protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), in relation to claims against failed regulated firms, does not cover poor investment performance. Try the FSCS investment protection checker here. (https://www.fscs.org.uk/check/investment-protection-checker)

• Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA-regulated firm, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here. (https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers)

3 – You won’t get your money back quickly

• Even if the business you invest in is successful, it may take several years to get your money back. You are unlikely to be able to sell your investment early.

• The most likely way to get your money back is if the business is bought by another business or lists its shares on an exchange such as the London Stock Exchange. These events are not common.

• If you are investing in a start-up business, you should not expect to get your money back through dividends. Start-up businesses rarely pay these.

4 – Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

• Putting all your money into a single business or type of investment for example, is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well.

• A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments (https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart/5-questions-ask-you-invest)

5 – The value of your investment can be reduced

• The percentage of the business that you own will decrease if the business issues more shares. This could mean that the value of your investment reduces, depending on how much the business grows. Most start-up businesses issue multiple rounds of shares.

• These new shares could have addition rights that your shares don’t have, such as the right to receive a fixed dividend, which could further reduce your chances of getting a return on your investment.

If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA’s website here (https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart)