Health: Is this company onto an alternative to stem cell therapy?

Many regenerative medicine companies on the ASX specialise in stem-cell therapies but Exopharm (ASX:EX1) is pursuing exosomes instead.

Exosomes, also known as Extra-corporeal Vesicles, are microscopic cellular couriers. These shift proteins and genetic information between cells and this can promote regeneration and healing of damaged cells.

In other words, they can tell cells they are a healthier, younger version of themselves — successfully.

The challenge is that there are plenty of products on the black market but clinical research has been limited. But the research that has been done has shown exosomes can be lower risk, have higher scalability and even a superior therapeutic capacity.

‘Very positive results’

This morning Exopharm announced BioMAP testing results of both its exosome products Plexaris and Cevaris.

These were compared with 4,500 experimental and sold medicines across a penal of 12 human primary cell-based systems.

Both products were deemed safe and had notable biological activity in tissue remodelling, inflammation and immune-modulatory related activities.

The results also showed that both products were not cytotoxic and did not cause anti-proliferative effects.

CEO Dr Ian Dixon declared the results were “very positive”.

“The testing showed that both Plexaris and Cevaris had different and distinct activities to comparison drugs,” he said.

“This confirms our belief that exosomes are a distinct and potentially new class of medicine, different from existing medicines.”

Exopharm recently began a phase one human clinical trial in Plexaris in a wound healing context. The company also has a technology (LEAP) that purifies exosomes for clinical purposes — a necessary step to separate them from other biological fluids like serum.

Exopharm listed in December 2018 and rallied for a few months before a retreat in the second half of last year. But it is still above it’s IPO price and climbed 11.5 per cent this morning.

In other ASX health news today:

National Veterinary Care (ASX:NVL) is about to be acquired but that hasn’t stopped it adding four more vet clinics to its portfolio. Upon settlement of the deals, expected next month, it will own 107 clinics.