Exosomes are small vesicles ranging from 30-100nm in size that are found in nearly all eukaryotic fluids and facilitate a range of important cellular functions. Although exosomes were discovered more than 30 years ago, it was not until recently that the scientific community began to give credit to exosomes for a range of promising traits.
Exosome Companies and their Technologies
Exosomes play an important role in various cellular functions. They transfer DNA, RNA, and proteins to other cells, thereby altering the function of the targeted cells. Exosomes are commonly found in blood, urine, and saliva, among other fluids. Exosomes are also present in other body fluids, such as synovial fluid, amniotic fluid, semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk, and more.
It has been long known that stem cells have the potential to exert therapeutic effects, but it has only been recently recognized that exosomes play an important role how stem cells exert their cellular functions.
Companies Commercializing Exosomes
Over the past few years, an explosion of competitors have been developing exosome therapeutics and diagnostics. Leaders from across the exosome industry are profiled below.
Aegle Therapeutics
Aegle Therapeutics is the first extracellular vesicle company to be cleared by the FDA to enter the clinical trials in humans. Aegle is using bone marrow- MSC derived extracellular vesicles to treat severe dermatological disorders.
Aethlon Medical, Inc.
Aethlon Medical (NASDAQ: AEMD) is an American company focused on addressing unmet needs in global health and biodefense. It initiated its tumor-derived exosome research at a time when the medical community believed exosomes were cellular debris. Today, a therapeutic to address tumor-derived exosomes represents a significant unmet need in cancer care. Aethlon has demonstrated that the affinity mechanism of the Hemopurifier® can capture tumor-derived exosomes underlying several forms of cancer, including breast, ovarian and metastatic melanoma.
Anjarium Biosciences
Anjarium Biosciences is developing a Hybridosome™ technology to engineer extracellular vesicles (including exosomes) to act as smart carriers. The technology allows therapeutic and diagnostic cargoes to be added into the lumen, as well as modification of vesicle surface properties (i.e. targeting ligands).
Aruna Bio
ArunA Bio is harnessing the natural abilities of neural exosomes to cross the blood brain barrier and enhance the body’s anti-inflammatory, self-repair and protective mechanisms to treat neurodegenerative disorders. Its proprietary neural exosomes inherently cross the blood-brain barrier and enable drugs and drug-combinations to naturally target cells and treat patients neurological disorders.
Capricor Therapeutics
Capricor Therapeutics has an exclusive worldwide license agreement with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for IP related to the development of exosomes originating from cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) for regenerative medicine applications.
Ciloa
Ciloa is a French biotech company, spin-off from the CNRS and the University of Montpellier, a pioneer in the development of vaccines and exosome-based therapies. Based in Montpellier, it was created in 2011 by Robert MAMOUN and Bernadette TRENTIN. Ciloa has an exclusive patented technology for the in vivo development of recombinant exosomes in therapeutic and preventive applications.
Clara Biotech
Clara Biotech is focused on providing the tools researchers need to harness the full potential of exosomes, including therapeutic, diagnostic and clinical applications. The company is developing a high-throughput lab tool (ExoSS) that aims to automate exosome prootcols, making its world-class exosome isolation service possible in your own lab at rates up to 100 samples/hour.
Codiak Biosciences
Codiak Biosciences‘ technology capitalizes on the unique properties of exosomes which have been shown to deliver nucleic acids, proteins, lipids, and small molecules to various cell types.
Creative Medical Technologies Holdings
Creative Medical Technologies Holdings has a patent application that covers the use of the company’s AmnioStem product as a production tool for the generation of exosomes to regenerate damaged brain tissue after a stroke.
Direct Biologics
Direct Biologics is a market leading innovator and cGMP manufacturer of regenerative products currently in a multi-center, Phase II, randomized clinical trial for the study of its ExoFlo extracellular vesicle product.
EverZom
Incorporated in September 2019, EverZom is a start-up based in France that is developing a GMP compliant extracellular vesicle manufacturing platform. As a CDMO for EVs, EVerZom aims to overcome the challenge of producing EVs at commercial scale with a breakthrough patented production method. This technology was developed in collaboration with the University of Paris and the CNRS. The process consists in applying a turbulence stimulation on cells resulting in a increase of the EV production yield by 100 times with minor impact on cell viability.
Evox Therapeutics
Evox Therapeutics is a platform technology company spearheading the development of exosome therapeutics for the treatment of life-threatening diseases. It is combining groundbreaking exosome technology from two renowned institutions in exosome research, Oxford University and the Karolinska Institutet. It has built a comprehensive IP portfolio encompassing key aspects of EV-based nucleic acid and protein delivery technology. Coupled with targeting technology and proprietary manufacturing and purification methods, the company is set to develop transformational therapeutics across a wide range of disease areas.
EV Therapeutics Inc.
EV Therapeutics is a San Francisco-based pre-clinical stage start-up developing a novel immune checkpoint inhibitor combination therapy based on our proprietary modified extracellular vesicles (mEVs) that significantly enhance immunotherapy efficacy in advanced stage metastatic colorectal cancers and other GI cancers. Its therapeutic platform consists of reactivating suppressed T-cell function, which in turn allows the patient’s immune system to synergistically benefit by responding to immunotherapy. Its platform technology can also be used to prevent minimal residual disease recurrence (i.e. cancer vaccine).
Exocel Bio
EXOCEL BIO was founded in March 2020 to manufacture and sell MSC-derived exosomes, known as NEXGEN REGEN™.
ExoCoBio
Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, ExoCoBio is focusing on stem cell-derived exosomes, to develop innovative therapeutic as well as cosmetic products. The company is exploring the use of stem cell derived-exosomes to regenerate or activate/de-activate various tissues or cells.
Exopharm Pty Ltd
Exopharm is an Australian regenerative medicine biopharmaceutical company that is seeking to develop and commercialize exosomes as therapeutic agents – initially a product called Plexaris™ and later a product called Exomeres™. Exopharm’s LEAP Technology also provides a key step in the downstream manufacturing process to isolate and purify exosomes from adult stem cells and other sources. Its LEAP Manufacturing Process has been developed to address the existing limitations in exosome purification processes. It entered into a partnership with RoosterBio in August 2017.
Exosome Diagnostics
Exosome Diagnostics launched the first instrument for exosomal protein (exoProtein) capture and analysis directly from any biofluid.
Exosome Sciences
Exosome Sciences is working to discover exosome-based biomarkers to diagnose and monitor Alzheimer’s disease, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (
Exosomics Siena SpA
Exosomics Siena SpA developed an exosome-based liquid biopsy that functions as a non-invasive cancer diagnostic.
Exogenus Therapeutics
Exogenus Therapeutics (Exo-T) is a biotechnology company dedicated to pre-
Ilias Biologics Inc.
ILIAS developed a unique platform technology EXPLOR™ that makes it possible to load specific proteins into exosomes in a controllable way. Unlike the conventional methods employing passive loading of cargoes, EXPLOR™ allows active and reversible loading of target proteins into exosomes with high efficiency. ILIAS built a robust pipeline that covers inflammatory and metabolic diseases as well as cancers. Its therapeutic exosomes showed promising efficacy profiles in non-clinical studies and ILIAS is getting ready to start a clinical trial in 2021.
Invitrx Inc.
Invitrx’s EX-MSC is an exosome allograft derived from Wharton’s Jelly MSCs and is sourced from a proprietary blend of cells developed for growth and repair. Exosomes and other Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) are isolated from their parent cells and concentrated to produce the Exosomal Product.
Kimera Labs
An FDA registered tissue facility, Kimera Labs is developing amniotic treatments and pharmaceutical grade, exosome-based regenerative therapies.
Lonza
Lonza announced May 2017 that it had acquired HansaBioMed Life Sciences, a supplier of technology and services for exosome research, and also invested in Exosomics, an Italian firm developing next-generation sequencing-based cancer tests.
MDimune Inc.
MDimune is a cell-derived vesicle (CDVs)-based therapeutics company that has developed a BioDrone® platform technology, which is a novel technology that uses cell-derived vesicles to achieve highly target-specific drug delivery. The BioDrone® platform technology is patented in the US, Europe, China, Japan, and Korea. MDimune’s current programs are focused on cancer, COPD and other rare diseases.
Mursla Bio
NanoView Biosciences
NanoView Biosciences was founded on a technology platform that uniquely identifies and characterizes exosomes. Its ExoView™ platform provides the ability to measure up to 4 markers on a single extracellular vesicle, with single binding event sensitivities.
Oasis Diagnostics® Corporation
As a pioneer in the area of salivary diagnostics, Oasis Diagnostics® Corporation provides tools for the simple and immediate isolation of exosomes, cell free DNA, cell free RNA [miRNA, mRNA] from saliva specimens. As part of its long term goals in this area the Company is involved in the characterization of salivary exosomes, particularly looking at the nature of salivary exosomes, what they are, what role they play, how they can be employed as diagnostics to pinpoint specific diseases and whether there are unique differences between exosomes from normal, healthy individuals and those with targeted diseases.
OmniSpirant
OmniSpirant has a patent pending platform technology based on inhaled bioengineered stem cell exosomes, which are capable of efficient intracellular delivery of a variety of therapeutic cargoes to effectively treat respiratory diseases. Its engineered stem cell exosomes will initially be used to develop a first-in-class regenerative gene therapy for Cystic Fibrosis. The prorietatry mucus penetrating exosomes have similar transformative potential for treating many other respiratory diseases.
Organicell
Organicell™ describes itself as a fully integrated Exosome Therapeutics Company. Its Organicell™ Flow product contains approximately 400 billion exosomes per milliliter quantified in every batch by Nanosight technology. Exosomes are nanovesicles that contain protein and microRNA that can be transferred to other cells to support tissue repair and homeostasis.
Regen Suppliers
Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Regen Suppliers announced its exosome industry involvement with a January 16, 2020, announcement stating that the company offers ReBella and ReBellaXO, umbilical stem cell and exosome products used for regenerative aesthetic procedures involving hair, facial and sexual rejuvenation. According to the company, ReBellaXO is an MSC Derived Exosome Biologic that is a “minimally manipulated allograft derived from full term, post c-section umbilical cord tissue and Wharton’s Jelly.”
Regenerelle, LLC
Regenerelle, LLC, specializes in manufacturing billions of MSCs and extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from Wharton’s jelly, a gelatinous component of the human umbilical cord. Regenerelle produces off-the-shelf, high quality, low passage human Wharton’s jelly stem cells (hWJSC), as well as exosomes derived from human Wharton’s jelly.
ReNeuron
ReNeuron is a clinical stage biotechnology company headquartered in the UK that is developing exosomes derived from its CTX neural stem cell line.
RION
Headquartered in Rochester, Minnesota, RION is a clinical-stage company that is developing exosome therapeutics that are clinically impactful and broadly accessible. RION has developed its Purified Exosome Product™ (PEP™), a biologic platform that harnesses the therapeutic power of exosomes for regenerative medicine. RION was established in 2017 through the Mayo Clinic Employee Entrepreneurial Program.
RoosterBio
RoosterBio and Exopharm announced August 2017 that they will collaborate on a Stem Cell Exomere Program, aimed to bring high-grade therapeutic extracellular vesicles/exosomes derived from adult stem cells into clinical practice.
Stemcell Medicine Ltd.
Announced January 2018, Stem Cell Medicine Ltd. (SCM) has licensed an innovative exosome-based technology for the treatment of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric indications, specifically, autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The treatment is based on vesicles, exosomes, derived from adult stem cells (MSC-exo) that are administered intranasally. The technology was developed by Professor Dani Offen, Sackler School of Medicine, Sagol School of Neurosciences Tel Aviv University and was licensed from Ramot, the Business Engagement Center at Tel Aviv University.
TAVEC Pharmaceuticals
Tavec is developing the next-generation of potent anti-cancer gene therapies using the power of injectable, miRNA loaded exosomes. It has demonstrated an ability to deliver high levels of specific miRNA, including widely known cancer disruptive targets such as miR195, directly to cancer cells. Using in vivo models, its miRNA-loaded exosomes inhibit cancer growth and prolong lifespan. The company is focused on exploiting a cancer cells natural pre-disposition to taking up large quantities of certain types of exosomes to insert microRNAs that will disrupt the cancer growth instruction set.
Unicyte AG
Headquartered in Oberdorf, Switzerland, Unicyte AG evolved from a fifteen year research collaboration with Prof Giovanni Camussi, a leading expert on extracellular vesicles and stem cells from the University of Turin and Fresenius Medical Care KGaA, the world’s largest provider of products and services for individuals with renal diseases. As a pioneer in liver stem cells and nano-extracellular vesicles, the company is dedicated to improving the lives of patients with kidney or liver disease, diabetes, and cancer. Unicyte was founded in 2015 as an independent affiliate of Fresenius Medical Care and is headquartered in Oberdorf NW, Switzerland.
VivaZome Therapeutics Pty Ltd
VivaZome Therapeutics Pty Ltd is a privately-held Australian biotech company, based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was formed to develop and commercialise exosome-based therapies, with a focus on treatments for debilitating and/or life-threatening disorders which are not adequately managed by current therapies.
XOStem Inc.
XOStem, Inc. was registered as a company in Delaware on May 9, 2018. While there is limited information available about the company, XOStem appears to be developing engineered exosomes for regenerative skin care, joint care, and other therapies.
Exosome Companies Are On The Rise
In recent years, exosomes have been gaining momentum as a novel strategy for accessing the therapeutic effects of stem cells without the risks and difficulties of administering the cells to patients. For this reason, new market entrants have been popping up worldwide with accelerating frequency. Are there other exosome companies that should be added? Let us know in the comments and we’ll get them added.
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To learn more this rapidly expanding marketplace, view the “Global Exosome Market – Market Size, Forecast, Trials and Trends.”
