Mosanna Therapeutics: The Venture Leader Biotech bringing an effective and well tolerated medicinal nasal spray to Metabolic Obstructive Sleep Apnea patients

Whom does your product or solution help, and how? 
Obstructive Sleep Apnea is a prevalent disorder amongst adults where transient interruptions to breathing are caused by obstruction of the upper airway due to insufficient muscle tonicity while sleeping to prevent the airway from collapsing. A strong link between Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and systemic metabolic disturbances has been shown to be bidirectional. Three-quarters of Diabetics have OSA, and 80% of Congestive Heart Failure patients have OSA. Many OSA patients are unable to control their obstructive breathing events regularly for the entire duration of their night’s sleep with current standard therapies. This significantly increases metabolic disturbances and their risk of deadly metabolic and cardiovascular comorbidities. Mosanna’s product is a well-tolerated nasal spray that aims to provide 8 hours of control of OSA with a single dose before bed. By facilitating adherence to treatment and long-term, consistent control of the breathing disorder, systemic and metabolic disturbances should be normalized, and quality of life improved.

What market are you addressing, and what is the potential of your startup in that market? 
Up to an estimated 1 billion people globally suffer from Sleep Apnea, and no approved drug treatments exist. Standard of Care is a medical device delivering continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) through a face mask. 8M people in the US use CPAP, and France reports over 1M uses. Randomized clinical studies have failed to show improvement in morbidity or mortality outcomes, likely due to the extremely low adherence rates. US Claims data show 30-50% do not use their CPAP at all or inadequately, with the average patient getting only 4 hours of beneficial use per night. These patients desperately need an effective, well-tolerated treatment that has the potential to improve outcomes of deadly comorbidities.

How did you come up with the idea for your startup?
Far too many drugs sit undeveloped on the shelves of Big Pharma companies with the potential to address high unmet medical needs. It is important that Big Pharma, Venture Capital, and funding sources like InnoSuisse, provide entrepreneurs the opportunity to build a company around those assets and take the development risks that fall outside the current strategy and focus of those Pharma companies. Mosanna has been built around a drug originally developed by Sanofi which is clinically derisked but required investment in R&D to optimize drug delivery. 

How will the Venture Leaders roadshow help you achieve your vision?
It’s a privilege to be part of such a long-running program and to have the opportunity to learn from the experience of the other participants, program leaders, and their network. Clearly, a startup lives and dies by how much financing the CEO can raise, and practicing and refining the pitch is a key step to success which is where the huge added value of the Venture Leaders roadshow comes into its own.

What excites you most about your work right now?
We have exceeded our initial expectations regarding product optimization and have been able to maintain our timelines and budget. As we continue to move toward submitting an IND, our next major milestone is Series A financing which will un-gate our clinical development program. It’s exciting preparing for that roadshow, looking forward to meeting people, engaging in interesting scientific and business discussions, and sharing my passion for my company and the enormous benefits we can potentially bring to Sleep Apnea patients.

How did you go about building your team?
After a good career in Pharma, I am fortunate to have a strong network to tap into and that of my co-founders and investors. I used recommendations from this network to select CROs and contractors and to grow organically as needed. A good headhunter is very helpful in finding specific profiles for C-suite roles.

What are your team’s key achievements to date?
Previously, MOS-118 has been shown to moderately improved OSA vs. placebo in a Phase 2 study but with acute nasal irritation. Mosanna has resolved the acute irritation's cause and increased drug delivery and residency time in the target nasal compartment. These significant product enhancements are expected to augment clinical efficacy substantially. We have already shown that our enhanced product is more effective in a pig model of OSA. The team has built a robust clinical development plan and begun working with expert clinical trial sites in the field of Sleep Apnea.  

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