Exopharm secures US patent for exosomes purification technology

The granting of a US patent for Exopharm’s LEAP technology places the company in the top tier of global exosome producers.

Exopharm (ASX: EX1) has saved the best ‘till Christmas, winning a US patent for its proprietary LEAP exosome purification technology.

The Aussie biotech’s LEAP, or Ligand-based Exosome Affinity Purification technology, enables large-scale, clinical grade commercial production of exosomes which underpin the emerging field of exosome medicines.

The commercial green light positions Exopharm as a global leader in meeting the challenge of producing exosomes at large scale.

“This patent is potentially a game-changer for Exopharm,” commented Dr Ian Dixon, founder and CEO of Exopharm and a co-inventor on the LEAP patent.

“Securing a US patent for an important biotechnology manufacturing technology is a major milestone and adds value to our company.”

Dr Dixon also said the LEAP technology has the potential to become the industry standard for exosome medicines, a field which is growing strongly and attracting interest from big companies in the business.

A LEAP patent has already been granted in Russia, and the company says it will continue to pursue this patent family in a further ten key global jurisdictions.

Exosomes as a new and growing class of medicine

LEAP is zeroing in on removing a major obstacle in the advancement of exosomes as a new form of medicine.

An inability to easily purify a large scale of exosomes from source material, which can include blood or cell media grown in a laboratory, had been holding back the sector.

LEAP uses a chromatography-based purification process to reduce the bottleneck, and is the only technology available to provide large quantities of high-purity exosomes.

The latest research points to exosomes as a better and safer way to deliver modern medicines, including mRNA therapeutics.

Exopharm said it’s in discussion with potential LEAP partners to make and commercialise their own exosome medicines for a range of diseases.

This includes global contract manufacturing organisations like Showa Denko, a Japanese company that’s currently evaluating LEAP under a formal feasibility study agreement with Exopharm.

“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 Dixon.

Exopharm is building a long-term value pipeline which involves generating revenues from two streams – self-owned production, and licensing agreements.

Meet the exosomes

Exosomes hold enormous promise across gene therapy, next-generation cancer therapies, as well as in rare diseases.

They can also be used as an alternative means of drug delivery inside the body, alongside technologies such as lipid nanoparticles (LNP), cell-penetrating peptides, viral vectors and liposomes

Exopharm’s product pipeline seeks to maximise the value of selected exosome medicines, serving a drug delivery market that’s growing at a CAGR of 5% and is currently valued at about US$175 billion.

This article was developed in collaboration with Exopharm, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.