The current approved PAH medications are predominately pulmonary vasodilators : 1) Endothelin receptor antagonists, 2) Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors, 3) Prostacyclin agonists, 4) Soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) stimulators. These therapies mostly inhibits the excessive vasoconstriction and accelerates the vasodilation of pulmonary arteries, but not treatments with complete therapeutic concept, such as vascular normalization.

VTA-04 is the first compound useful for normalization of the injured pulmonary arteries, one of main features in PAH progress and our therapeutic strategies with VTA-04 is novel, effective therapies that target key molecular pathways that drive the vascular pathogenesis of PAH . VTA-04 can reduce PASMC hyperplasia with inhibition of PDGF-induced PDGFRb signaling and simultaneously induce the recovery of injured PAECs with restore of VEGF-induced VEGFR2 signaling.

Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC)

Breast Cancer (BC) is the first main cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide in 2018, classified into four major molecular subtypes: Luminal A, Luminal B, Basal-like / triple Negative/basal Breast Cancer (TNBC)-negative and HER2 types. Triple with little or no Estrogen Receptor (ER), Progesterone Receptor (PR), and Human Epidermal growth factor Receptor (HER2) have very high metastatic and recurrent behaviors. Therefore, the target eradication of TNBC is important to increase the relapsefree survival of BC patients. EGFR, a membrane penetrating tyrosine kinase receptor member of the HER family, is one of the major regulators of cell proliferation and metabolism, and EGF is known to accelerating glucose consumption and lactate production in cancer cells. Particularly, EGFR overexpression is frequently observed in patients with TNBC. Thus, EGFR is the newest therapeutic target for the treatment of TNBC cells.

Alzheimer's disease (AD)

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and causes symptoms of dementia such as memory loss, difficulty performing daily activities, and changes in judgement, reasoning, behavior, and emotions. Today, more than 40 million people worldwide are living with AD and related dementias, and these numbers are growing rapidly. The major hallmarks of AD include senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. To date, in addition to the accumulation of Aβ and tau, the proposed mechanisms include neuronal death induced by β-amyloid(Aβ) oligomer toxicity, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, synaptic dysfuction. With its aging populations, the world is facing a crisis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). There is currently no cure for AD, nor is there a treatment that will stop its progression. VasThera company is aiming to evaluate the efficacy and safety of investigational candidates in our pipeline and address the unmet needs in AD research and treatment.

Alzheimer's disease and oxidative stress

Oxidative stress leads to range of cellular disorders caused by the excess of reactive oxygen species (ROS)3. ROS might also induce aberrant protein aggregation in a variety of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. There is overwhelming evidence that brain tissue in AD patients is exposed to oxidative stress during the course of the disease. Since oxidative stress is characterized by an imbalance in radical production of ROS and antioxidative defense, both are considered to have a major role in the process of age-related neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. Inhibition of oxidative stress therapeutically might lead to decrease pathological characteristics such as reactive astrogliosis, neuroinflammation, and neuronal death4,5.