About Lexaria Bioscience

Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (Lexaria) operates as a biotechnology company. The company is developing the enhancement of the bioavailability of a broad range of fat-soluble active molecules and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) using its patented DehydraTECH drug delivery technology. DehydraTECH combines lipophilic molecules or APIs with specific long-chain fatty acids and carrier compounds that improve the way they enter the bloodstream, increasing their effectiveness and allowing for lower overall dosing while promoting healthier oral ingestion methods. DehydraTECH can be used with a wide range of active molecules encompassing fat-soluble vitamins, pain medications, hormones, PDE5 inhibitors, antivirals, nicotine and its analogs, and cannabinoids. The company's technology can be applied to a variety of therapeutic indications, including hypertension and heart disease, and diabetes. DehydraTECH can be implemented in a multitude of ingestible or topically administered product formats, including foods, beverages, oral suspensions, tablets, capsules, creams, lotions, and skin patches. It is suitable for use with a variety of product formats, including pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, over-the-counter products, and consumer packaged goods. DehydraTECH is a technology incorporated into the formulation and manufacturing process of new or existing orally ingestible and topical products. The procedure involves fusing the active ingredient as a delivery payload together with certain fatty acids and infusing the mixture into a substrate material. The company has developed extensive experience from the formulation and production of its demonstration products, in various formats, that enables it to provide expert advice to its licensees with the integration of DehydraTECH in their products for the purpose of providing a more palatable and efficient delivery of bioactive molecules. Lexaria supports its licensee's products with its technology. A part of the company's business plan is to encourage new and existing participants to license and utilize DehydraTECH to enable enhanced performance of their products. These products cross a wide range of lipophilic bioactive molecules, including nicotine and cannabidiol (CBD) with additional molecules of interest continually being evaluated. Subsidiaries The company has the following wholly owned subsidiaries: Lexaria CanPharm ULC (which is wholly-owned by Lexaria CanPharm Holding Corp.); Lexaria CanPharm Holding Corp.; Poviva Corp.; Lexaria Hemp Corp.; Kelowna Management Services Corp.; Lexaria Nutraceutical Corp.; and Lexaria Pharmaceutical Corp., as well as its majority owned (83.333%) subsidiary Lexaria Nicotine LLC. Altria Ventures Inc. owns a 16.667% equity interest along with certain other rights in Lexaria Nicotine LLC. Intellectual Property Lexaria's involvement with the foundational technology to DehydraTECH dates back to 2014 when it entered into a strategic relationship with Poppy's Teas LLC, and the original inventors of DehydraTECH, who had filed two initial U.S. provisional patent applications for the technology. Poviva Corp. (Poviva) is the wholly owned subsidiary of Lexaria and the named owner of all of the patents filed in connection with DehydraTECH. Lexaria has been granted an exclusive license to use DehydraTECH technology from Poviva for a period of time ending 25 years after the date of the last patent granted to Poviva. Since the company's first patent grant in 2017 for DehydraTECH, it has continued to pursue patent applications internationally in regions that are considered to have the highest commercial potential and, as of August 31, 2023, had been allowed/granted 37 patents worldwide. The company's pursuit and development of its technology has expanded its potential area of impact geographically and by sector. The company's patent portfolio includes patent family applications or grants pertaining to Lexaria's method of improving bioavailability and taste, and the use of DehydraTECH as a delivery platform, orally or topically, for a wide variety of APIs encompassing cannabinoids; fat soluble vitamins; NSAIDs pain medications; and nicotine and its analogs. The pending and granted patents also cover the manufacturing and processing methods used to combine fatty acids with APIs. This includes heating and drying methods and use of excipients and substrates. The company has several applications pending worldwide and due to the complexity of pursuing patent protection, the quantity of patent applications will vary continuously as each application advances or stalls. The company continues to investigate national and international opportunities to investigate expansions and additions to its intellectual property portfolio. Patents have been filed specifically for the use of DehydraTECH with cannabinoids for the treatment of heart disease and hypertension to support its anticipated Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and for the treatment of epilepsy. Patents granted in the year ended August 31, 2023 In fiscal 2023 (year ended August 31, 2023), the company's patent portfolio expanded to include three new patent families. This further protects the company's exclusivity in the use of DehydraTECH with sublingual delivery of nicotine, treatment of hypertension and delivery of lipophilic active agents via transdermal or dermal delivery. These patents are as follows: The company's first ever Canadian patent granted in its 6th patent family, to use DehydraTECH to deliver lipophilic active agents via transdermal or dermal delivery. The company's first-ever U.S. patent granted in its 20th patent family, expands upon Lexaria's international intellectual property rights to apply DehydraTECH enhancement technology to the sublingual delivery of nicotine. The patent covers many different forms of nicotine, including free base nicotine, nicotine salts, polymer resins of nicotine, and other forms of nicotine complexes. Two U.S. patents granted in the company's 21st patent family, which recognizes DehydraTECH's ability, when combined with CBD, to treat hypertension. Licensing Lexaria has strategically structured its organization to obtain the most value from its DehydraTECH patented technology and has provided its subsidiary companies with exclusive rights to use DehydraTECH or sublicense DehydraTECH with specific molecules, namely, THC, CBD, Nicotine, and all other molecules. Lexaria Nicotine LLC, (16.667% owned by Altria Ventures Inc.) holds the exclusive rights to the use or sublicense of DehydraTECH with nicotine molecules. As of the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, Lexaria Nicotine LLC had one perpetual non-exclusive global license issued to Altria Client Services LLC for DehydraTECH-Nicotine. In January 2021, Lexaria's wholly-owned subsidiary, Lexaria CanPharm ULC sold its exclusive license rights and assigned all sublicenses for the use of DehydraTECH with non-pharmaceutical THC-related assets to Hill Incorporated (Hill Inc.). Lexaria Hemp Corp. holds the exclusive license to the use of DehydraTECH with cannabis that contains less than 0.3% THC for non-pharmaceutical products. As of the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, Lexaria Hemp Corp. had the following active licenses: Non-exclusive license with Hill Inc. for all product formats globally; Non-exclusive license with Boldt Runners Corporation for oral pouch and oral mulch products in the U.S., South Africa, Europe and Japan; Non-exclusive license with Cannfections Group Inc. for chocolates and candy in Canada; Non-exclusive license with Bevnology LLC for all product formats globally excluding Japan, Korea and China; Exclusive perpetual license (other than the rights held by Hill Inc. and Boldt Runners Corporation) with Premier Anti-Aging Co. Ltd. (as assigned pursuant to its absorption merger with Premier Wellness Science Co. Ltd.) (Premier) for all product formats in Japan. Lexaria Pharmaceutical Corp. (LEXX Pharma) holds the exclusive rights to license DehydraTECH in connection with all molecules other than cannabis and nicotine, with the exception that it can produce and sublicense rights to produce cannabis DehydraTECH products that required physician consultation and were intended to treat a therapeutic indication. On July 26, 2023, LEXX Pharma agreed to limit its exclusive rights to the use or sublicense of DehydraTECH for all of the noted molecules solely in connection with products that were created with the intention to treat a therapeutic indication and required physician consultation. As of the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, LEXX Pharma had the following active licenses: Non-exclusive license with AnodGen Bioceutical for pharmaceutical and medical product applications incorporating DehydraTECH-infused psychoactive cannabinoid powders and medical product applications incorporating DehydraTECH-infused non-psychoactive cannabinoid powders within Europe, including the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand; and Non-exclusive license with Valcon Medical A/S for bulk powder formats, as solid oral dosage forms, such as powder-filled capsules, and compressed tablets, pills and oral melts, and in topical creams or lotions with or without patch integration that incorporate DehydraTECH-infused cannabinoids for the purposes of medical product applications within Europe, including the U.K. On July 26, 2023, Lexaria issued its new subsidiary, Lexaria Nutraceutical Corp., an exclusive license to the use of DehydraTECH for all molecules, excluding those associated with nicotine or cannabis, solely in association with non-pharmaceutical products. As at the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, Lexaria Nutraceutical Corp. had the following active licenses: Non-exclusive license with Bevnology LLC for various non-pharmaceutical product formats in the U.S.; and exclusive, world-wide, perpetual and sublicenseable license with SulfoSyn Limited for the use of DehydraTECH with the molecule sulforaphane. Research and Development For the year ended August 31, 2023, the company's research and development expenses were $3,666,721. History The company was founded in 2004. It was incorporated in 2004. The company was formerly known as Lexaria Corp. and changed its name to Lexaria Bioscience Corp. in 2016.