Peter Thiel-backed psychedelics start-up targets schizophrenia ahead of IPO

LONDON — ATAI Life Science, a Peter Thiel-backed start-up, has taken a majority stake in Recognify, a company that is developing drugs to help treat schizophrenia.

Headquartered in Berlin, ATAI is aiming to make psychedelic drugs that can be used to treat mental health disorders. Recognify, meanwhile, is specifically aiming to make a drug that can be used to treat the cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia, or CIAS.

The latter company was co-founded by German-American biochemist Thomas Sudhof, who was awarded a Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine in 2013.