Aspire Capital

Satsuma Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in developing a novel therapeutic product for the treatment of migraine. Its product candidate, STS101, is a drug-device combination of a dry-powder formulation of dihydroergotamine mesylate, or DHE, which can be self-administered with a pre-filled, single-use, nasal delivery device.

Solid Biosciences is to cure Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a genetic muscle-wasting disease predominantly affecting boys, with symptoms that usually manifest between three and five years of age. DMD is a progressive, irreversible and ultimately fatal disease that affects approximately one in every 3,500 to 5,000 live male births and has an estimated prevalence of 10,000 to 15,000 cases in the United States alone. There is no cure for DMD and, for the vast majority of patients, there are no satisfactory symptomatic or disease-modifying treatments. Our lead product candidate, SGT-001, is a gene transfer under development to restore functional dystrophin protein expression in patients' muscles. Based on our preclinical program, we believe the mechanism of action of SGT-001 has the potential to slow or even halt the progression of DMD. In 2015, we began exclusively licensing the elements of the construct for SGT-001 and other elements of our gene transfer program from the University of Michigan, the University of Missouri and the University of Washington. SGT-001 has been granted Rare Pediatric Disease Designation in the US and Orphan Drug Designations in both the US and EU. Its safety and efficacy are currently being evaluated in a Phase I/II clinical trial.

Mereo is based in London and was founded in March 2015 to fund and develop novel, innovative specialist focused products from large pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies. Pharmaceutical companies face increasingly difficult choices in the allocation of internal resources to their drug development programs. With significant P&L constraints and rich pipelines it has become increasingly difficult for many companies to fully fund and advance development all of their drug candidates, especially beyond Phase 2. Mereo has been formed to take advantage of the global pharmaceutical industry's drive for creative ways to progress their clinical development pipelines. Mereo has acquired an initial mid-late stage portfolio of three exceptionally well characterised novel products for the treatment of diseases with considerable unmet medical need from Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Each of these programmes has a comprehensive dataset for both pre-clinical and proof-of-concept clinical studies. Additional product opportunities are under evaluation. Mereo's focus is the development of innovative medicines that have the potential to significantly transform the lives of patients suffering from rare and other specialised conditions around the world. To do this, the Company depends on the combination of its team's expertise in selecting and acquiring product opportunities, creating value in the development pipeline and structuring creative transactions. Mereo's internal expertise is complemented by a unique partnership with a leading global CRO, ICON. Mereo combines the operational discipline and efficiency of a small company with the financial resources to conduct comprehensive clinical studies. Mereo will rapidly progress each of the products through further value inflection points before partnering or divesting its products. The Company also has the option to directly commercialise products, for example in orphan disease indications.

Novan develops products that tap the anti-bacterial properties of nitric oxide by encapsulating the compound in nano-particles that deliver therapeutic agents to desired body location. They use its proprietary nitric oxide-based science and technology platform to develop innovative, first-in-class therapies for unmet medical needs. The company is committed to using the power of the human body to create safe and effective treatments. They complement their internal scientific talent with strategic partners around the globe to enable Novan to harness the power of nitric oxide and develop technologies that will help address currently untreated and under-treated medical conditions. It was incorporated in 2008 and is based in Morrisville, North Carolina.

Titan Medical Inc., a development stage company, engages in the design and development of SPORT single-port robotic surgical system for application in minimally invasive surgery (MIS).

Viking Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on the development of novel, first-in-class or best-in-class therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. Viking’s research and development activities leverage the Company’s expertise in metabolism to develop innovative therapeutics that improve patients’ lives. The Company’s lead clinical program is VK0612, a first-in-class, orally available drug candidate type 2 diabetes. The Company’s second clinical program is VK5211, an orally available, non-steroidal selective androgen receptor modulator, or SARM, for the treatment of cancer cachexia. Viking is also developing three novel preclinical programs targeted at metabolic diseases and anemia.

Ritter Pharmaceuticals, Inc. develops novel therapeutic products, which modulate the human gut microbiome to treat inflammatory, gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases. We are discovering a new frontier in human gut health research by exploring the metabolic capacity of the gut microbiota and translating the functionality of prebiotic-based therapeutics into safe and effective applications that can have a meaningful impact on a patient’s health. Our pipeline of novel microbiome modulators selectively increase the growth of beneficial bacteria in the colonic ecosystem and create a meaningful impact on a patient’s health. Our first therapy, RP-G28, is currently under development for the treatment of lactose intolerance and has the potential to become the first FDA-approved drug for the treatment of lactose intolerance, a debilitating disease that affects over 1 billion people worldwide. RP-G28 has been studied in a Phase 2 clinical trial and is a first-in-class compound.

Atossa Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on breast cancer and other breast conditions. They offer treatment for pre-cancerous breast conditions and early-stage breast cancer.

Sophiris Bio is a biotech company that develops a treatment for the symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Their product includes topsalysin for the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia and for the treatment of low- to intermediate-risk prostate cancer.

Mobiquity Technologies provides precise, unique, at-scale location-based data and insights on consumer’s real-world behavior and trends for use in marketing and research. With its combined exclusive data sets of shopping malls, premium outlets and cinema beacon data, and first-party location data via its advanced Software Development Kit (SDK) utilizing multiple geo-location technologies; Mobiquity Networks provides one of the most accurate and scaled solutions for mobile data collection and analysis. It holds two subsidiary companies namely Advangelists and Mobiquity Networks--each providing programmatic marketing technology and trade desk services. It was founded in 1998 by Dean L. Julia and Michael D. Trepeta and it is headquartered in Shoreham, New York.

MediciNova is a biopharmaceutical company focused on acquiring and developing novel, small-molecule therapeutics for the treatment of diseases with unmet medical needs with a specific focus on the U.S. market. Through strategic alliances primarily with Japanese pharmaceutical companies, MediciNova holds rights to a diversified portfolio of clinical and preclinical product candidates, each of which MediciNova believes has a well-characterized and differentiated therapeutic profile, attractive commercial potential and patent assets having claims of commercially adequate scope. MediciNova’s pipeline includes clinical-stage compounds for the treatment of acute exacerbations of asthma and COPD, progressive multiple sclerosis, methamphetamine addiction, neuropathic pain, asthma, interstitial cystitis, and solid tumor cancers

Athersys is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops therapeutic products to treat several disease indications. The company's product development portfolio includes MultiStem, a stem cell product, that is being developed as a treatment for multiple disease indications, is being evaluated in two ongoing clinical trials, and has been authorized for use in a third clinical trial. In addition, Athersys develops pharmaceuticals to treat indications such as obesity, certain cognitive and attention disorders, narcolepsy, or other forms of excessive daytime sleepiness.

The eSVS Mesh is an extravascular nitinol (nickel titanium alloy) prosthesis placed over the patient’s saphenous vein graft (SVG) during coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG). The eSVS Mesh is intended to maintain long-term SVG graft patency by minimizing undesirable wall stress on the vein so as to avoid the formation of intimal hyperplasia or excessive tissue that can lead to vessel narrowing, reduced blood flow and potential closure of the SVG graft.