Exo Lab Italia

ExoLab Italia is an innovative start-up incorporated in 2020 thanks to the joint effort of Professor Stefano Fais, MD, PhD (director of Oncology and Molecular medicine department of Institute Superior of Health, the Italian NIH) and Dr. Mariantonia Logozzi, the scientific resources, with Valerio Carconi and Lorenzo Cilli, serial start-uppers, being with Exolab at their second project at only 35 years old. Gabriele Campi, CEO has a PhD Degree in Medical Sciences from New York University, Master’s Degree in Biological Sciences, University of Milan, 10+ years’ experience in academic research and 10+ years’ experience in Venture Capital.

The innovative core of the company resides within the technology of plant-derived exosomes (PDEs), which are extra-cellular vesicles extracted from edible Italian and organic certified fruits and vegetables that show different properties as drug delivery carriers and within the cosmetic and nutraceutical field.

The business model is integrated and foresees at the moment four business units, all based on b2b model and internal research and innovation know how and effort. Namely, the company is developing products and ingredients for the cosmetic and nutraceutical market on top of an internal research program aiming to characterize plant-derived exosomes as a drug-delivery system both for proprietary research programs and for third parties as R&D projects.

The company has filed three patents with full ownership, covering the usage of PDEs within nutra-cosmetic applications and within the drug delivery field, on top of a patent for the development of a proprietary anti-tumor compound, currently under evaluation in two oncologic therapeutic indications.

Exolab is pioneering a technology based on the properties of plant derived exosomes (PDEs), which are extra-cellular vesicles extracted and purified from organic fruits and vegetables grown exclusively in Italian organic farms. Exosomes are small membrane vesicles secreted by a multitude of cell types, which play a role in cell to cell communication and bio-material inter-cellular transfer. They share specific chemo-physical characteristics such as a natural cargo of proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and other bio-actives, a highly fusogenic potential with the ability to fuse with the plasma membrane of target cells releasing their cargo intra-cellularly on top of the natural capability of modulating the systemic red-ox balance, reducing inflammation, stimulating the microbioma and promoting cellular regeneration. Moreover, PDEs have a great bio-mimetism potential, they are resistant to the acidic gastric pH and they can permeate the blood brain barrier in a much more efficient way when compared to other synthetic nano-particles like liposomes. These characteristics configure PDEs as a very functional drug delivery system. In regards to the last topic and application, it is worth mentioning that plant-derived exosomes show a much better profile under several terms when compared to standard liposomes, which are considered today the most efficient drug delivery system implemented in healthcare and not only. Such advantages are generally related to the toxicity of the carrier itself, liposomes are in fact liver-toxic while exosomes show optimal toxicity profiles, and to the loading and efficacy to the delivery the cargo. 

ExoLab is running operations exerting the exosome potential following two approaches: a first approach uses exosome “tout-court” with their inner natural cargo and its associated beneficial properties for cosmetic and nutraceutical applications; while, in a second approach, the company load exogenous molecules into exosomes for drug delivery with several applications according to the characteristics of the loaded molecules.

ExoLab Italia is already on the market with applications for the Nutraceutical market, through an agreement with an Italian pharmaceutical company (Guna spa) for which it produces 3 products in full service (https://guna.com/it/prodotti/integratori-alimentari/linee/esosomi/exocomplex/) with a 10 years contract, Cosmetic market, through the supply of some products for a Polish company (Arkana Cosmetics) to which it supplies the raw material, and pharmaceuticals, through collaboration for a product development project with Dompè Farmaceutici.
Furthermore, collaborations and negotiations are underway with two large Billion Company in the cosmetics market and distribution of cosmetic and nutraceutical raw materials.
There are currently 5 customers and the expected turnover for 2023 is €300,000.

Exolab is working to close a €3M financing round in Q1/24. Such funding will serve the company to promote commercial expansion, to expand resources and working space, to strengthen the intellectual property portfolio and to implement the production process to reach industrial-size scalability.