The Ledger ResearchPrivate

The Front Office

Scouting report · HELP

Eric So

  • Co-founder, Executive Chair & President, HELP since 2020-11src

Co-founded Cybin/Helus Pharma; Executive Chair, interim CEO twice in 2025-26

C−53 / 100

Ranked #22 of 23

Scouting sheet

as of 24 Sep 2026
Delivers guidance640 beat · 4 met · 0 missed · 1 withdrawn
Answers the question—no call reviewed yet
Capital allocation60company five-year record: neutral
Pay design10individual, strategic · company lost money
Skin in the game66stake worth $60.7m, 4× last year's pay
Age
50src
In the role
6 yr
Promises scored
5
Hit rate
80%
Dodges / 100 answers
—
Airtime on calls
—
Every promise, oldest firstMMMMW··

What to weigh

Red flag 1

  • FY2026 pay $13.57m, of which $12.63m was 1,907,439 shares earned when the company closed a $175m equity financing on 2025-10-31. His contract sets founder awards at 40% of the plan headroom freed by any financing of C$75m or more before 2026-12-31. It pays for raising capital, not for clinical or share-price resultssrc

Watch 5

  • A further 1,046,899 RSUs were awarded to him on 2026-09-01, per his 13Dsrc
  • Employment agreement terminable only on 48 months' notice plus accrued pay; his performance awards survive termination and vest immediately on itsrc
  • 28.7% of votes withheld on his re-election as director at the 2026-09-22 meeting (Halstead, Glavine and Lewis-Hall drew a similar share); the four other independents got 95.8-99.7%src
  • As Chair he oversaw three CEO changes in eleven months: Drysdale out 2025-09-02, Cola hired 2026-02-10 and removed at the board's request 2026-04-20 ($750k severance), Halstead in 2026-08-03src
  • Five-year TSR to 2026-03-31 was about -82%, per the company's own performance graphsrc

In their favour 1

  • Put about $3.57m of his own money into the stock in September 2026, days after the first Section 16 filings appeared for this namesrc

Career

  1. 2026-08 – now
    Cybin Inc. (Helus Pharma)src
    Executive Chair & President (co-founder)
    Handed the CEO role to Michael Halstead on 2026-08-03; Form 3 title 'Executive Chair' (F3-SO-2026); Chair of the Board and not independent per CIRC-2026
  2. 2026-04 – 2026-08
    Cybin Inc. (Helus Pharma)src
    Executive Chairman & Interim CEO (second spell)
    Resumed interim CEO on 2026-04-20 when the board asked Michael Cola to step down after ten weeks
  3. 2025-09 – 2026-02
    Cybin Inc.src
    President & Interim CEO
    Interim CEO 2025-09-02 to 2026-02-10 after Doug Drysdale stepped down
  4. 2020-11 – 2025-09
    Cybin Inc.src
    Co-founder, President and Director
    Appointed November 2020 on the reverse takeover of Clarmin Explorations; described as co-founder and President of Cybin Corp. in July 2020 (CLARMIN-2020)
  5. 2017-12 – 2018-12
    Globalive Technology Partners (TSX-V)src
    Managing Director, Chief Strategy Officer
  6. 2015 – 2020
    Trinity Venture Partners; Growpacker; Mundo Inc.src
    Managing Director (Trinity Venture Partners); President (Growpacker); Special Advisor and General Counsel (Mundo Inc.)
    Listed as his principal occupations over the five years before the 2020-07-15 circular; no individual dates given
  7. 2006-04 – 2010-11
    Synergex Corporation (TSX)src
    Vice-President, Corporate Strategy and General Counsel
  8. 2000 – 2004
    Torys LLPsrc
    Associate (corporate commercial, securities, finance, M&A)
    The firm is named in CLARMIN-2020; the years come only from the search summary

Not located: 2004-2006 and 2010-2015 not located in any source searched; the 2015-2020 roles carry no individual dates; when Cybin Corp. was founded is not stated in any filing read (his Form 3 dates warrants he holds to 2019)

Achievements

  • Co-founded Cybin and has been President and a director since the November 2020 reverse takeover that listed itsrc
  • Ran the company as interim CEO twice, 2025-09-02 to 2026-02-10 and 2026-04-20 to 2026-08-03, covering the FY2026 annual report and the June 2026 $50m offeringsrc
  • Owned 5.8% of the company at 2026-09-01 (4,423,894 shares incl. 105,264 warrant shares), the largest insider stake with fellow co-founder Paul Glavine's 5.8%src
  • Bought 295,000 shares on the open market between 2026-09-01 and 2026-09-08 for about $3.57msrc

Education

  • McGill University, Undergraduate degree (1997)src
  • University of Windsor, Graduate degree (2000)src

Background

  • Family His spouse holds 53,616 shares and is a co-filer on his Schedule 13D; the circular and AIF read contain no statement on family relationships among directors and officerssrc
  • Founder Co-founder alongside Paul Glavine (founding CEO, now Chief Growth Officer); both have employment agreements terminable only on 48 months' noticesrc
  • Boards Director of Riot Blockchain (Nasdaq) from October 2017 until he left the board in February 2018src
  • Boards Director of Therapix Biosciences (Nasdaq) June 2017 to December 2019 and of Hyperblock (CSE) July 2018 to April 2019src
  • Regulatory Was VP Corporate Strategy and General Counsel of Synergex when it was cease-traded on 2010-06-12 for failing to file its financial statements, MD&A and AIF; he left in November 2010src
  • Personal Resident in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, per the 2026 circularsrc

The promise ledger

5 scored · 2 open
ResultWhat was promisedWhere it is scoredHow
M MetRepay indebtedness — $22,765 out of the October 2025 offeringHELP row 1written outlook
M MetInitiate enrollment in EMBRACE — $1,196HELP row 2written outlook
M MetComplete the Phase 2 GAD study — $1,292HELP row 3written outlook
M MetProvide topline data from the Phase 2 GAD study — $810HELP row 4written outlook
W Withdrawn❗ HLP005 — deliver a drug development candidate by Q4 2026HELP row 5written outlook
· Still openAPPROACH topline efficacy readout in Q4 2026 (~$49,857 total, $23,686 remaining at 2026-03-31)HELP row 6written outlook
· Still openHLP004 — complete the design of the next study by the end of Q3 2026 (~$150, none spent at 2026-03-31)HELP row 7written outlook

Sources

15
  1. Filing Cybin Inc. management information circular for the 2026 annual and special meeting, dated 2026-08-18 (Ex-99 to 6-K, acc 0001833141-26-000067) · 2026-08-18
  2. Filing Cybin Inc. Annual Information Form for the year ended 2026-03-31, dated 2026-06-29 (Ex-99.1 to 40-F, acc 0001833141-26-000046) · 2026-06-29
  3. Filing Cybin Inc. audited consolidated financial statements FY ended 2026-03-31 (Ex-99.2 to 40-F, acc 0001833141-26-000046) · 2026-06-29
  4. Filing Clarmin Explorations Inc. management information circular dated 2020-07-15 for the Cybin reverse takeover (Ex-99.8 to 40-F registration, acc 0001193125-21-224423) · 2020-07-15
  5. Filing Helus Pharma press release: CEO transition, Eric So to resume interim CEO (Ex-99.1 to 6-K, acc 0001833141-26-000024) · 2026-04-20
  6. Filing Helus Pharma press release: appoints Michael Halstead as CEO (Ex-99.1 to 6-K, acc 0001062993-26-003976) · 2026-08-03
  7. Filing Helus Pharma press release: results of 2026-09-22 annual and special meeting (Ex-99.1 to 6-K, acc 0001833141-26-000081) · 2026-09-22
  8. Filing Schedule 13D, Eric H. L. So and spouse, event date 2026-09-01 (acc 0000912282-26-001255) · 2026-09-09
  9. Filing Form 3, Eric H. L. So (reporting CIK 2116526), Executive Chair, event 2026-09-01 (acc 0000912282-26-001253) · 2026-09-09
  10. Filing Form 4, Eric H. L. So, open-market purchase 2026-09-01 (acc 0000912282-26-001254) · 2026-09-09
  11. Filing Form 4, Eric H. L. So, open-market purchase 2026-09-04 (acc 0000912282-26-001257) · 2026-09-10
  12. Filing Form 4, Eric H. L. So, open-market purchase 2026-09-08 (acc 0000912282-26-001261) · 2026-09-11
  13. Filing Riot Blockchain 8-K Item 5.02 (acc 0001079973-18-000125): Remo Mancini fills the vacancy left by Eric So · 2018-02-23
  14. Web search result WebSearch: Eric So Cybin education (summary: McGill undergraduate degree 1997, University of Windsor graduate degree 2000, Torys LLP associate 2000-2004) · 2026-09-24
  15. Call transcript Cybin fiscal Q2 2026 results call (2025-11-13), ROIC.ai