Tattarang invests in Australian medicinal cannabis innovator Emyria

Perth-based Emyria is leading several drug development programs backed by their proprietary clinical evidence, including the development and registration of synthetically produced cannabinoids and psychedelics.

Emyria operates in the clinical pharmaceutical space and is the only ASX-listed company that controls patienttreating clinics, a clinical-trial-grade data system and uses these assets to accelerate the development and registration of treatments for patients with unmet needs.

Despite increased access to medicinal cannabis in many countries, including Australia, a lack of clinical data is constraining further commercialisation and there are very few registered treatment products.

Emyria is filling this information void by using a unique, patient-centric and data driven approach to drug development. The company has one of the world’s largest, real-world evidence (RWE) patient registries tracking dose responses to pharmaceutical-grade medicines and is leveraging this data to advance the development and registration of novel cannabinoid treatments.

Emyria operates a network of specialist medical clinics and uses purpose-built software and technology to gather clinical data from consenting patients. Emyria’s subsidiary company, Emerald Clinics, has seven sites in Australia and has treated more than 5,000 patients – underpinned by a data system that has already gathered millions of data points.

Using this model, Emyria has already launched 2 patent-backed, synthetic cannabinoid drug development programs targeting the major global markets of mental health and irritable bowel syndrome, with further programs expected targeting TGA and FDA registrations.

In addition, Emyria is advancing several MDMA-based programs including an MDMA-assisted therapy trial for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as well as evaluating a library of novel MDMA analogues in partnership with the University of Western Australia with the potential to become treatments for a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Tattarang Chief Investment Officer John Hartman said Emyria’s investment in industry-leading data collection at the front-line of care will allow it to innovate faster and help bring new treatments to those who need them, faster and more cost effectively.

“We believe evidence based, registered medicinal cannabis and novel psychedelic treatments have massive growth potential across global healthcare jurisdictions,” Mr Hartman said.

“Emyria’s data driven approach positions it strongly to lead the accelerated development and registration of new treatment options that can potentially benefit millions of patients.”

Emyria’s Managing Director Dr Michael Winlo welcomed Tattarang’s investment and said it will assist the company realise the next phase of its growth strategy, with multiple programs progressing towards registration in Australia and the US.

“Emyria has been working diligently to collate one of the largest clinical grade cannabinoid data-sets in the world. We believe this will lead to the discovery of the next generation of treatments and care models in medicinal cannabis,” Dr Winlo said

“Emyria’s assets also allow us to evaluate emerging treatments such as psychedelic-assisted therapies, which have great potential but require further investment and innovation in new drugs, digital technologies and care models. We are very pleased to welcome Tattarang to be part of this next phase of growth.

“Our vision is to develop medicines and treatments that can transform the lives of millions of people around the world living with chronic pain, autism, post-traumatic stress disorder, insomnia, IBS and countless other conditions for which current therapies are either ineffective, cause unwanted side effects or are yet to be created.”

In October 2021, Emyria secured access to one of the world’s most sophisticated data platforms after joining Palantir’s Foundry Builders Program.

The scheme, run by major software company Palantir Technologies, gives select companies access to powerful and highly secure data integration and analysis software that’s typically only available to major enterprises.