Let’s rewind to Year 10 biology- you know that mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, chances are you vaguely remember the golgi apparatus but do you remember what an exosome is?
Exosomes, or extracellular vesicles are little packages delivering molecules and enhancing cell-to-cell communication.
Clinical- stage biopharmaceutical company Exopharm (ASX: EX1) is utilising exosomes to deliver transformative medicines. Exosomes can be loaded with different active pharmaceutical ingredients and targeted to different tissue or cell types in the body.
The Company has a pipeline of exosome based drug delivery technologies, playing in a space worth USD $175 billion, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 5%.
Strengthening their IP position, Exopharm has been granted a US patent for their LEAP exosome purification technology as methods and compositions for purification or isolation of microvesicles and exosomes. This patented technology enables large-scale, commercial production of exosomes for clinical applications in the emerging drug delivery field.
Dr. Ian Dixon, founder and CEO of Exopharm said: “This patent is potentially a game-changer for Exopharm. Securing a US patent for an important biotechnology manufacturing technology is a major milestone and adds value to our company. Our LEAP technology has the capability to become the industry standard for exosome medicines, a field which is growing strongly and is attracting big companies.”
Exosomes as a drug delivery system hold promise to solve medical problems in rare diseases and improve population health. The applications in vaccines, gene therapy and cancer therapies are vast and could draw the attention of many different pharmaceutical companies looking to enhance the bioavailability of their products.
“While partnering can deliver early revenue and help make exosome medicines mainstream, the long-term future for Exopharm is in developing our own modern exosome medicines,” said Dr. Ian Dixon.
Chief Commercial Officer and Deputy CEO, Dr. Chris Baldwin also commented on the patent saying: “LEAP is one part of Exopharm;s intellectual property and know-how. We are in discussions with potential partners who can use LEAP to make and commercialise their own exosome medicines for a range of diseases including global contract manufacturing organisations like Showa Denko.”
The technology is now patented in both the US and Russia, with Exopharm pursuing more patents in ten other countries as a critical step towards regulatory approval.
Samantha Freidin is a business journalist at Emerald Financial whilst also completing a Masters of Marketing and Digital Communications at Monash University.
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