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Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (NASDAQ: LEXX)
Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (NASDAQ: LEXX) is a global innovator in drug delivery platforms. The company's patented technology, DehydraTECH™, improves the way active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) enter the bloodstream by promoting healthier oral ingestion methods and increasing the effectiveness of fat-soluble active molecules. DehydraTECH promotes fast-acting, less expensive and more effective oral drug delivery and has been thoroughly evaluated through in vivo, in vitro and human clinical testing.
DehydraTECH is covered by 46 granted patents and many patents pending worldwide. Lexaria's first patent was issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in October 2016 (US 9,474,725 B1), providing 20 years of patent protection expiring June 2034. Multiple patents have been awarded since then and are expected in the future.
Lexaria has also collaborated with the National Research Council (NRC), the Canadian government's premier research and technology organization. The company has been granted patent protection for specific delivery of antiviral drugs, hypertension-related conditions, central Nervous System conditions and more.
Lexaria began developing DehydraTECH in 2014 and has since continued to strengthen and broaden the technology. Lexaria licenses its technology to other companies around the world to offer consumers the best possible performance across an array of ingestible product formats.
The company's technology is best thought of as an additional layer that providers of prescription and non-prescription drugs can utilize to improve the effectiveness of their own existing or planned new offerings.
DehydraTECH is suitable for use with a wide range of product formats including pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, capsules, pills, tablets, oral suspensions and topical applications.
DehydraTECH Technology
Lexaria's DehydraTECH is designed specifically for formulating and delivering lipophilic (fat-soluble) drugs and active ingredients. DehydraTECH increases their effectiveness and improves the way active pharmaceutical ingredients enter the bloodstream. The major benefits to a subject ingesting a DehydraTECH-enabled drug can be summarized by the following:
- Speeds up delivery – the effects of the product are felt by the subject in just minutes.
- Increases bioavailability – the technology is much more effective at delivering a drug or product into the bloodstream.
- Increases brain absorption – animal testing suggests significant improvement in the quantity of drug delivered across the blood-brain barrier.
- Improves drug potency – more of the ingested product is made available to the body, so lower doses are required to achieve the desired effect.
- Reduces drug administration cost – lower doses mean lower overall drug costs.
- Masks unwanted taste – the technology eliminates or reduces the need for sweeteners.
Lexaria has demonstrated in animal studies a propensity for DehydraTECH technology to elevate the quantity of drug delivered across the blood-brain barrier by as much as 1,700 percent, initiating additional new patent applications and opening possibilities for improved drug delivery.
Since 2016, DehydraTECH has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to increase bio-absorption and has also evidenced an ability to deliver some drugs more effectively across the blood brain barrier, which Lexaria believes to be of particular importance for centrally active compounds. The technology is to be further evaluated for additional orally administered bioactive molecules, including oral cannabinoids, GLP-1 drugs, and other APIs.
Market Considerations
Lexaria is focusing ongoing research and development efforts on the advancement of product candidates across several key segments:
- Diabetes [1] – Valued at $79.3 billion in 2023, this market is forecast to reach $134.1 billion by 2030
- Cardiovascular Drugs [2] – Valued at $85.8 billion in 2023, this market is forecast to reach $115.8 billion by 2028
- GLP-1 [3] – Valued at $18.0 billion in 2023, this market is forecast to reach $100 billion by 2028
- Epilepsy [4] – Valued at $7.0 billion in 2023, this market is forecast to reach $9.5 billion by 2032
- Human Hormones [5] – Valued at $3.7 billion in 2023, this market is forecast to reach $7.3 billion by 2032
- PDE5 Inhibitors [6] – Valued at $3.4 billion in 2023, this market is forecast to reach $6.1 billion by 2032
Management Team
Chris Bunka is Chairman and CEO of Lexaria Bioscience Corp. He is a serial entrepreneur who has been involved in several private and public companies since the late 1980s. He has extensive experience in the capital markets, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, as well as corporate finance. He is named as an inventor on multiple patent innovations.
John Docherty, M.Sc., is the President of Lexaria. He is a pharmacologist and toxicologist, and a specialist in the development of drug delivery technologies. He is the former president and COO of Helix BioPharma Corp. (TSX: HBP). He is named as an inventor on multiple issued and pending patents.
Julian Gangolli is a strategic advisor to Lexaria and is a proven and respected senior executive with a visible and successful track record at highly regarded publicly traded companies. He joined Allergan in 1998 and was North American President when it was sold in 2015, after becoming one of the leading specialty pharmaceutical companies in the United States. Mr. Gangolli joined GW Pharmaceuticals in 2015 as U.S. President. As President, he oversaw the approval of the first CBD drug by the FDA and the subsequent successful commercialization of Epidiolex® in the US. Epidiolex® is indicated for the treatment of refractory epilepsies and seizures in children. The commercial success of Epidiolex® in the U.S. led to the acquisition of GW Pharmaceuticals by Jazz Pharmaceuticals in 2021 for over $7 billion.
Dr. Philip Ainslie serves as a scientific and medical advisor to Lexaria. He is co-director for the Centre for Heart, Lung and Vascular Health, Canada. He is also Research Chair in Cerebrovascular Physiology and Professor at the School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Development at the University of British Columbia.
Investment Considerations
- Lexaria Bioscience Corp. has disruptive proprietary technology protected by a broad international patent portfolio.
- The company has been issued 46 patents in the U.S., European Union and other countries, with many more pending around the world.
- Lexaria's DehydraTECH technology has a vast worldwide, multi-billion-dollar total addressable market, including multiple rapid-growth segments such as hypertension, GLP-1 drugs and more.
- The company has licensed its fat-soluble active molecule delivery technology to multiple established companies for use in their products.
Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (NASDAQ: LEXX)
