News Release Details

TryptageniX, a majority-owned joint venture with CB Therapeutics, employs bioprospecting to develop new chemical entities with potential applications in mental health.

This new platform company will focus on the generation of intellectual property and further strengthen atai’s drug development pipeline of psychedelic and non-psychedelic compounds.

TryptageniX will also develop scalable and environmentally friendly biosynthetic manufacturing methods for atai's naturally derived compounds.

NEW YORK, Dec. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- atai Life Sciences N.V. (Nasdaq: ATAI) (“atai”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company aiming to transform the treatment of mental health disorders, today announced the launch of TryptageniX. This new platform company will specialize in both the discovery of new chemical entities (NCEs) for the atai pipeline through bioprospecting and on biosynthesis of atai's naturally derived development candidates. Both approaches are expected to further strengthen atai’s already robust intellectual property (IP) portfolio spanning psychedelic and non-psychedelic compounds.

Bioprospecting refers to the search for natural products from which medicines can be developed, while biosynthesis is the production of complex molecules within living organisms or cells. Both are central to TryptageniX’s approach to the development of NCEs. In addition, the development of innovative biosynthetic methods will further optimize the scalability of compound manufacturing, allowing atai to address the escalating mental health crisis in an ecologically sustainable manner.¹

“We are constantly seeking opportunities to further extend the capabilities of our platform,” said Florian Brand, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of atai Life Sciences. “TryptageniX’s approach to drug discovery is highly complementary to that of EntheogeniX, our existing AI-enabled drug discovery company. The launch of TryptageniX demonstrates our ongoing commitment to harness the most promising scientific advancements of our age for the good of patients.”

“atai is delighted to be collaborating with CB Therapeutics to form TryptageniX,” said Srinivas Rao, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of atai Life Sciences. “We both share a strong commitment to driving novel approaches in the treatment of mental health disorders. This is yet another important step forward for atai in developing innovative and scalable solutions to serve the ever-growing needs of patients and support our dynamic clinical development strategy.”

“CB Therapeutics is very excited to be joining forces with atai Life Sciences with the launch of TryptageniX,” said Dr. Jacob Vogan, Chief Scientific Officer of CB Therapeutics. “It is our shared ambition that this platform will lead the way in exploring psychedelic-centric biosynthesis solutions and enable the discovery of important new chemical entities. Sensitivity to sustainability and the wider ecosystem is paramount, which we believe can be accomplished through innovative biosynthetic manufacturing methods for naturally derived compounds.”

“Our expertise in synthetic biology, precision fermentation, and downstream processing, along with the opening of our new world-class pilot facility will enable rapid development and deployment of much needed, cutting-edge solutions for mental health and wellness, and we are very excited to be at the forefront of this revolution,” said Sher Ali Butt, Chief Executive Officer of CB Therapeutics.

Naturally derived compounds play an important role across drug development for the central nervous system (CNS). TryptageniX will be a strong complement to atai’s existing drug discovery and development expertise, while also allowing atai to minimize its ecological footprint and ensure a sustainable supply chain for the future.

References:

1. Rehm J, Shield KD. Global Burden of Disease and the Impact of Mental and Addictive Disorders. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2019;21(2):10.

About atai Life Sciences
atai is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company aiming to transform the treatment of mental health disorders. atai was founded in 2018 as a response to the significant unmet need and lack of innovation in the mental health treatment landscape. atai is dedicated to acquiring, incubating and efficiently developing innovative therapeutics to treat depression, anxiety, addiction, and other mental health disorders.

atai's business model combines funding, technology, scientific and regulatory expertise with a focus on psychedelic therapy and other drugs with differentiated safety profiles and therapeutic potential. By pooling resources and best practices, atai aims to responsibly accelerate the development of new medicines across its companies, seeking to effectively treat and ultimately heal mental health disorders.

atai's vision is to heal mental health disorders so that everyone, everywhere can live a more fulfilled life. atai has offices in New York, London, and Berlin. For more information, please visit www.atai.life.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. The words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “initiate,” “could,” “would,” “project,” “plan,” “potentially,” “preliminary,” “likely,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements include express or implied statements relating to, among other things: statements regarding TryptageniX and biosynthetic NCE development, the success, cost and timing of development of our product candidates, including the progress of preclinical and clinical trials and related milestones; our business strategy and plans; potential acquisitions; and the plans and objectives of management for future operations and capital expenditures. The forward-looking statements in this press release are neither promises nor guarantees, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond our control and which could cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, short-term and long-term business operations and objectives, and financial needs. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, including without limitation: we are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company and have incurred significant losses since our inception, and we anticipate that we will continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future; we will require substantial additional funding to achieve our business goals, and if we are unable to obtain this funding when needed and on acceptable terms, we could be forced to delay, limit or terminate our product development efforts; our limited operating history may make it difficult to evaluate the success of our business and to assess our future viability; we have never generated revenue and may never be profitable; our product candidates contain controlled substances, the use of which may generate public controversy; clinical and preclinical development is uncertain, and our preclinical programs may experience delays or may never advance to clinical trials; we rely on third parties to assist in conducting our clinical trials and some aspects of our research and preclinical testing, and those clinical trials, including progress and related milestones, may be impacted by several factors including the failure by such third parties to meet deadlines for the completion of such trials, research, or testing, changes to trial sites and other circumstances; we currently rely on qualified therapists working at third-party clinical trial sites to administer certain of our product candidates in our clinical trials and we expect this to continue upon approval, if any, of our current or future product candidates; if third-party sites fail to recruit and retain a sufficient number of therapists or effectively manage their therapists, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially harmed; we cannot give any assurance that any of our product candidates will receive regulatory approval, which is necessary before they can be commercialized; research and development of drugs targeting the central nervous system, or CNS, is particularly difficult, and it can be difficult to predict and understand why a drug has a positive effect on some patients but not others; we face significant competition in an environment of rapid technological and scientific change; third parties may claim that we are infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating their intellectual property rights, the outcome of which would be uncertain and may prevent or delay our development and commercialization efforts; a change in our effective place of management may increase our aggregate tax burden; we identified material weaknesses in connection with our internal control over financial reporting; and a pandemic, epidemic, or outbreak of an infectious disease, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may materially and adversely affect our business, including our preclinical studies, clinical trials, third parties on whom we rely, our supply chain, our ability to raise capital, our ability to conduct regular business and our financial results. Other risk factors include the important factors described in the section titled “Risk Factors” in our final prospectus, dated June 17, 2021, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act, and in our other filings with the SEC, that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially and adversely from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Any forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date of this press release, and you should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee that the future results, performance, or achievements reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or will occur. Except as required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this press release or to conform these statements to actual results or revised expectations.

Contact Information

Media Contact:
Camilla Dormer
VP, Communications
Email: camilla@atai.life

Investor Contact:
Chad Messer
VP, Investor Relations
Email: chad@atai.life