** U.S.-listed shares of psychedelics-based drug developer atai Life Sciences 9VC.F, ATAI.O rise 11.7% to $1.53 premarket
** President-elect Donald Trump selects Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services
** Kennedy has previously criticized the U.S. FDA over its "aggressive suppression" of psychedelics
** ATAI has several drugs in development that are based on psychedelic drugs, including VLS-01 for treatment-resistant depression that is a formulation of dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, and EMP-01 for social anxiety disorder that uses a form of MDMA
** "RFK Jr seems positively inclined and sounds motivated to help foster psychedelic drug development," and appears to recognize "responsible" use of MDMA, Jefferies analyst Andrew Tsai said in a note on Monday
** Brokerage notes programs from cos such as ATAI, Compass Pathways CMPS.O and GH Research GHRS.O that are using pyschedelic-based drugs
** Up to last close, ATAI shares had fallen 2.8% YTD versus a 5.4% increase in the Nasdaq Biotechnology index .NBI
(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru)
((Leroy.Dsouza@thomsonreuters.com))
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