Mosanna Therapeutics completes seed round

Mosanna Therapeutics' first goal is to bring an effective and well-tolerated medicinal nasal spray to Metabolic Obstructive Sleep Apnea (MOSA) patients. MOSA is characterized by obstruction of the upper airway during sleep that occurs when the muscles that support the soft tissues in the throat temporarily relax. Breathing is impaired or completely prevented causing blood oxygen levels to drop below the normal range. Low oxygen levels increase the cardiac load and stress the nervous system, which if left untreated increases significantly the risk for cardiovascular mortality. MOSA can also result in excessive daytime sleepiness and memory or concentration problems. Hundreds of millions of people around the globe are affected by MOSA.

Mosanna's seed round was led by by Forty51 Ventures, a new Biotech Venture Capital fund based in Basel focused on company formation in Biotech. Mosanna will utilize the funds for formulation and manufacturing optimization and regulatory activities to enable the company's first Phase 1b clinical trial by end-2023. In line with its lead role in the seed financing round, Forty51 Ventures will join the Board of Directors.

Mosanna also announced the appointment of industry veteran Ben Machielse as Chairman of the Board. Machielse's impressive career includes a former role as CEO of Vtesse, a company developing treatments for Niemann Pick Disease that was acquired by Sucampo in 2017, and COO at Omthera Pharmaceuticals, a company in the cardiovascular space acquired by AstraZeneca in 2013.

The company confirmed the appointment of co-founder Jonathan Talbot as Chief Executive Officer, who said, "I'm excited to develop a treatment for one of the modern world's growing, global health crises. Mosanna aims to bring the first, targeted precision medicine to Obstructive Sleep Apnea patients with a focus on the devastating cardiometabolic impact of this disease." Talbot brings broad industry experience with a strong track record in Pharma.

(Press release/RAN)