Mosanna Therapeutics

Mosanna Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company founded in 2022, with dual headquarters in Redwood City, California, and Basel, Switzerland. The company was co-founded by Jonathan Talbot and the venture capital fund Forty51 Ventures. Talbot, who initially served as CEO, has a background in the pharmaceutical industry and started Mosanna to develop promising drugs that larger companies had shelved. He identified a clinically de-risked small molecule, originally from Sanofi, and built the company around optimizing its delivery to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). In June 2025, veteran biotech leader David Weber, PhD, was appointed President and CEO to guide the company through its next growth phase, including clinical development.

The company is focused on developing a pharmaceutical alternative to the mechanical devices that currently dominate the OSA market, which affects an estimated one billion people globally. Mosanna's business model centers on the research and development of novel therapeutics, funded by venture capital. It aims to address the significant unmet need among patients who cannot tolerate standard treatments like CPAP machines. As a clinical-stage entity, its revenue generation will depend on future product approval and commercialization. The company has successfully raised significant capital, including an $80 million Series A round in June 2025, to advance its lead candidate through clinical trials. This funding was co-led by Pivotal bioVenture Partners, EQT Life Sciences, Forbion, Broadview Ventures, and Norwest.

Mosanna's lead product is MOS118, a small molecule administered as a nighttime nasal spray. The therapy is designed to restore the body's natural reflex to keep the upper airway open during sleep, addressing the root neurological and muscular dysfunction of OSA rather than just the mechanical obstruction. This approach targets the muscles responsible for maintaining airway patency, which exhibit decreased activity in OSA patients during sleep. By delivering the drug directly to the nasal cavity, MOS118 is engineered to act locally in the upper airway throughout the night. The primary benefit is providing a non-invasive, user-friendly treatment that can improve adherence and, consequently, long-term health outcomes for a patient population at high risk for cardiovascular and metabolic comorbidities.

Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea, nasal spray, MOS118, clinical-stage biotech, pharmaceutical development, Forty51 Ventures, metabolic obstructive sleep apnea, airway control, drug-based treatment, upper airway muscles, sleep-related breathing disorder, venture capital-backed, David Weber, Jonathan Talbot, EQT Life Sciences, Pivotal bioVenture Partners, Forbion, Sanofi compound, non-invasive therapy, cardiovascular risk reduction