EVerZom, a biopharmaceutical company specialised in the bioproduction of exosomes, has raised €1.1 million ($1.3m) in funding from institutional and private investors to develop its exosome bioproduction platform.
This funding will speed up the platform development and scale-up, with the objective to allow routine clinical grade production by 2022.
Exosomes are biological nanoparticles released by cells as an intercellular communication system to transport biomolecules. They have the ability to deliver therapeutics or regenerate tissue in several pathologies, including osteoarthritis, heart failure, and liver and kidney diseases, conditions which impact more than 150 million patients worldwide. Exosomes are now considered one of the safest and most promising future regenerative therapy solutions. They are also easy to store and have a low immunogenic profile, thus reinforcing their potential.
Increasingly, academic and industrial players are working on the therapeutic potential of exosomes. The main obstacle to the translation of exosomes into clinical development is industrial manufacturing while maintaining robust quality and reproducibility.
EVerZom's proprietary innovation consists in applying turbulence stimulation on cells to trigger massive exosome release. This approach enables the production of ten times more exosome ten times more rapidly than classical methods. The technology is being developed and already implemented in GMP certified systems, simplifying the clinical transfer.
This technology and the know-how developed around exosomes allows EVerZom to offer a scalable and reproducible exosome production process with robust quality controls. Everzom's internal R&D is continuing its work on the link between the qualification of exosomes and their application potential. EVerZom's ambition is to become the European leader in the bioproduction of exosomes.
"We are delighted with this financing opportunity, which will enable us to industrialise our proprietary technology and meet the growing demand of the exosome market. Our ambition is to foster the emergence of new exosome therapeutic strategies and to make them accessible to the largest possible number of patients as quickly as possible" explained Jeanne Volatron, Co-founder and President of EVerZom