Kinoxis Therapeutics Pty Ltd.

Sept. 25, 2025 -- PharmAla Biotech Holdings Inc. (“PharmAla” or the “Company”) (CSE: MDMA) (OTC:MDXXF), a biotechnology company focused on the research, development, and manufacturing of novel MDXX class molecules (including its LaNeo™ MDMA), is pleased to announce that it has signed a distribution agreement with Veridion Group (“Veridion”) of New Zealand, to act as exclusive distribution agent for its LaNeo MDMA in the Netherlands market. “With the approval of the first Authorized Prescriber for Psilocybin by Medsafe – the New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority – we immediately saw a number of eminent clinicians express a desire to do the same for MDMA,” said Nick Kadysh, CEO, PharmAla Biotech. “We’re incredibly pleased to have partnered with Veridion to act as our exclusive distributor for New Zealand. Veridion has the expertise we look for in a partner: executing complex operations with controlled pharmaceuticals, and working with doctors to provide exceptional care. Kia ora!” The distribution agreement includes an annual purchase minimum (waived for the first year), as well as restrictions on re-export. PharmAla anticipates shipping to New Zealand from existing inventory allocated for its Australian operations. “This partnership with PharmAla is a natural fit. Veridion has built its reputation on handling complex, highly regulated medicines, and PharmAla brings both the science and the track record to match,” said Courtney Letica, CEO, Veridion Group. “Together, we can give New Zealand clinicians confidence that when MDMA treatments become available, access will be safe, controlled, and delivered to the highest standard.” PharmAla is furthermore pleased to appoint Dr. Kiyan Afzali to the board of PharmAla Biotech Australia Pty Ltd. (“PharmAla Australia”). Dr. Afzali is a scientific consultant with nearly a decade of experience in leading impactful translational research through broad expertise in medicine, pharmacology, and drug discovery, and a specialisation in quantitative pharmacodynamics. He earned his PhD from The University of Sydney, where he developed small drug-like molecules as the first potential medicines targeting the receptor for oxytocin, also known as the love hormone or social neuropeptide, to treat some of the largest contributors to the global burden of disease, including neuropsychiatric disorders, cardiometabolic disease, pain, and inflammation. His works have led and instrumentally contributed to significant written compositions, licensed patents, awards, a total of $282m in private investment, and the establishment and maturation of the biotechnology company Kinoxis Therapeutics, including a strategic partnership with the major international pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. “We’re pleased to welcome Dr. Afzali to the team, and look forward to consulting with him on our research and development efforts in Australia, “said Dr. Harpreet Kaur, VP of Research, PharmAla Biotech. “We believe his exceptional expertise in our field of study – as well as his proven track record of commercial success – will help us continue developing PharmAla into the best drug developer of MDMA-like molecules in the world.” Dr. Afzali’s appointment is effective October 1, 2025. PharmAla Biotech Holdings Inc. (CSE: MDMA)(OTCQB: MDXXF) is a biotechnology company focused on the research, development, and manufacturing of MDXX class molecules, including MDMA. PharmAla was founded with a dual focus: alleviating the global backlog of generic, clinical-grade MDMA to enable clinical trials as well as commercial sales in selected jurisdictions, and to develop novel drugs in the same class. PharmAla is the only company currently provisioning clinical-grade MDMA for patient treatments outside of clinical trials. PharmAla’s research and development unit has completed proof-of-concept research into several IP families, including ALA-002, its lead drug candidate. PharmAla is a “regulatory first” organization, formed under the principle that true success in the psychedelics industry will only be achieved through excellent relationships with regulators. The content above comes from the network. if any infringement, please contact us to modify.

Ginkgo Bioworks is the second computational-focused target discovery company to link up with Boehringer Ingelheim in the last month. Ginkgo Bioworks and Boehringer Ingelheim are linking arms as they venture into the forest of undruggable targets, with the larger pharma offering up to $406 million for Ginkgo’s molecules.  Ginkgo will also receive an undisclosed upfront fee for its R&D efforts, according to an announcement Monday. The two companies did not elaborate on how many targets Ginkgo was obligated to identify but said the $406 million is the aggregate amount of biobucks the biotech stands to gain.  The deal allows Boehringer to take a pickax to Ginkgo’s Codebase, a library of more than three terabases of sequencing data, in order to identify potential therapies. One terabase is equal to the genetic sequencing data of 1 trillion base pairs.  The collaboration is the latest in an expansive business development effort from Ginkgo, with a recent focus on gene therapy. A month ago, the company bought AAV capsid maker StrideBio for its intellectual property. The hope is that Stride’s platform could be used for future partnerships to help other companies find new therapies. Ginkgo explicitly said it wasn’t interested in Stride’s preclinical asset and plans to out-license or sell it.  “We're not moving into clinical development,” Anna Marie Wagner, Ginkgo’s head of corporate development, said at the time.  Boehringer has been equally aggressive on the partnership front as of late, most recently collaborating with Melbourne-based biotech Kinoxis Therapeutics to develop new neuropsychiatry treatments. Boehringer offered up to $181 million in milestone payments for that deal. The German pharma has also used licensing deals to try to bolster its oncology franchise, partnering with Covant Therapeutics in late March to work on an ADAR1 inhibitor in exchange for up to $481 million.  Ginkgo is the second computational-focused target discovery company to link up with Boehringer in the last month, after NaturalAntibody announced an antibody-focused discovery pact in early April. Financial terms of the deal were not included when it was announced.