Twiggy Forrest makes $5m investment in Emyria for cannabis, MDMA research

Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest’s private investment group Tattarang has today made a $5 million investment in clinical drug development company Emyria (ASX: EMD) to accelerate the group’s cannabinoid and MDMA research.

The investment, which will see 20 million shares issued to Tattarang, gives the investment group  a 7.3 per cent holding in Emyria.

As part of the placement, Tattarang will also be issued 10 million options in Emyria with an exercise price of $0.40 per option and expiry date two years from the date of issue.

Funds raised will be used to bolster synthetic cannabinoid registration programs with the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia (TGA) and the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in the US, and advance Emyria’s novel MDMA-analogue development program with the University of Western Australia.

“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,” Tattarang CIO John Hartman said.

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

“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 managing director Dr Michael Winlo said he was “delighted” to receive the backing of Forrest’s firm.

“Tattarang shares our long-term vision to accelerate the development and registration of medicines that can transform the lives of millions of people around the world living with conditions for which current therapies are either ineffective, cause unwanted side effects or are yet to be created,” Dr Winlo said.

“Emyria is the only ASX-listed company that controls patient-treating clinics and a clinical-trial-grade data system and uses these assets to accelerate the development and registration of new drugs, digital technologies and care models.

“Our current leading programs cover synthetic cannabinoid-based pharmaceuticals, MDMA-assisted therapy and novel psychedelic drug development. We are very pleased to welcome Tattarang to be part of this next phase of growth.”

The investment comes after Emyria was recently invited to participate in the second cohort of Palantir Technologies’ (NYSE: PLTF) Founder Builders Program, giving it access to the tech giant’s highly secure data integration and analysis software.

Under the program, Perth-based Emirya will have access to the full Palantir Foundry stack, greatly enhancing its data infrastructure, security, integration and analysis capabilities under a markedly reduced subscription model.

Emyria managing director Dr Michael Winlo says the program will enable it to leverage its growing Real-World Evidence (RWE) asset, which now covers detailed and longitudinal health outcome data for more than 5,000 patients with complex medical conditions.