Since October 2023, Exopharm Limited, a Melbourne-based biotechnology company that specialises in exosome technology, have been under a suspension from quotation due to proposed changes to the nature of the company. These changes seem to be linked to a complete restructuring, with acquisition of Canadian biotech company Tryp Therapeutics formally announced to investors on Exopharm’s website late last week. This change signifies the market for which Tryp Therapeutics operate within: psychedelics as pharmaceuticals.
Exopharm was founded in 2013 by Dr Ian Dixon, an expert in developing biotech startups in both executive and non-executive capacities. The idea behind the company was initially to fund and commercialise LEAP (ligand-based exosome affinity purification) technology, a technology that Dixon, among a few others, holds the patent for. However, it seems that this technology will be thrown to the wayside to make the operations of Tryp Therapeutics the sole focus of the company. All indicators are pointing to the major players of Tryp taking over Exopharm’s board, who are hoping to change their name to Tryptamine Therapeutics after the all-stock buyout is complete, cementing a new chapter in the company’s history.
Since Exopharm’s IPO in 2018, they have been the subject of an up-and-down journey through clinical trials and fundraising efforts, which has ultimately proved too much for the company to continue its original operations, especially with the hard times that many biotech companies experienced last year as a result of rising interest rates and the threat of a recession. As a result of these factors, many investors that would have been able to fund companies such as Exopharm chose not to, instead collecting interest in bank accounts as a surefire way to protect their own money. As highlighted by Fierce Biotech’s layoff tracker, it was an extremely rough year to be a startup, especially in biotech or pharma.
Tryp Therapeutics’ decision to move from the Canadian market to the Australian market is a strong indication of the ideals toward use of once illicit compounds changing. The company focuses on ailments such as chronic pain disorders and eating disorders, which they aim to tackle through IV injection of psilocin and psilocybin, the active constituents of psychedelic mushrooms. The reason for the cross-globe move in homebase is to take advantage of the optimised early-clinical trial process in Australia, where the regulatory landscape is more lenient in terms of timeframes the companies must abide to.
The events that have transpired over the last 6 months for Exopharm and Tryp show the pathways that biotech companies can take when faced with difficult financial and administrative situations. Rather than continue developing Exopharm’s patented technologies in the exosome therapeutics, they are removing themselves from the space entirely and acquiring Tryp Therapeutics, who are effectively using the stock market space that Exopharm occupies and kickstarting their venture into the Australian biotech landscape.
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