What Altesa does

Altesa BioSciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in College Park, Georgia (Atlanta metro), founded around 2021 and operationally active since its 2023 Series A financing. The company is built around a single investigational asset, vapendavir — a first-in-class, orally administered small-molecule capsid inhibitor with broad-spectrum activity against approximately 97% of rhinoviruses and related respiratory enteroviruses, including all three rhinovirus species (RV-A, RV-B, and RV-C, the latter previously thought insensitive to capsid inhibitors). Altesa is advancing vapendavir as the only direct-acting antiviral in development for rhinovirus, targeting COPD exacerbations triggered by the common cold, with a Phase 2a challenge study in GOLD Stage 2 COPD patients showing 5 vs 8.5 day median symptom resolution, reduced viral load, and reduced inflammatory biomarkers. A major active metabolite (ALT-001) has been designated a New Chemical Entity and is independently advanced as a derivative candidate.

The company's near-term focus is the Phase 2b CARDINAL multinational randomized placebo-controlled trial enrolling 900 COPD patients across 49 sites in the United States and United Kingdom (first patient enrolled May 2026, trial extending into Q4 2027), supported by an FDA IND clearance secured in March 2025 and a bioMérieux partnership deploying BIOFIRE SPOTFIRE point-of-care diagnostics at U.S. sites. Altesa holds exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize vapendavir under a 2021 license from Vaxart (up to $130M in potential milestones and royalties) and has raised $110M cumulatively across a $35M Series A (2023) and a $75M oversubscribed Series B (February 2026) led by Forbion with participation from Sanofi, Medicxi, Pitango, and Atlantic Partners. The business model is pre-commercial; future revenue, if vapendavir is approved, would derive from direct drug sales and/or licensing/royalty arrangements rather than today's clinical operations.

The leadership team — former Acting FDA Commissioner Brett P. Giroir as CEO, former GSK CMO Katharine Knobil as CMO, Operation Warp Speed leader Moncef Slaoui as Board Chair, and Molnupiravir inventor George R. Painter as co-founder — anchors a clinical-development-led go-to-market posture built on scientific congress presence (ERS, ATS, ASM Microbe, ICAR), COPD Foundation co-design of the trial protocol, and a future specialty pulmonology sales motion. Beyond COPD, the company has identified adjacent patient segments — asthma, cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, sickle cell disease, immunocompromised patients, elderly in long-term care, and newborns — as pipeline expansion opportunities.

Name

Altesa

Legal name

Altesa BioSciences, Inc.

Website

https://altesabio.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Altesa BioSciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing vapendavir, a first-in-class oral rhinovirus capsid inhibitor aimed at preventing rhinovirus-driven COPD exacerbations in patients with chronic lung disease. It is advancing the Phase 2b CARDINAL trial in 900 COPD patients across the U.S. and U.K. and holds exclusive global rights to the asset.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Antiviral Pharmaceuticals

NAICS

Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834)

akta.pro primary industry

Respiratory & Allergy Pharmaceuticals (HLAIAAAH)

Keywords

• Rhinovirus antiviral drugs
• COPD exacerbation therapeutics
• Capsid inhibitor medicines
• Clinical-stage biopharmaceuticals
• Respiratory virus treatments

Headquarters

HQ city

College Park

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Pre-revenue clinical-stage pharmaceutical development: Altesa is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company with no commercial product revenue. The company is funded by equity financing (Series A and Series B venture capital rounds) while advancing its lead asset vapendavir through clinical trials. Future revenue, if vapendavir is approved, would be generated through direct drug sales and/or licensing/royalty arrangements; Altesa already holds the exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize vapendavir under a license from Vaxart worth up to $130 million in potential milestones and royalties.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Altesa BioSciences is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing vapendavir, a first-in-class orally administered rhinovirus capsid inhibitor designed to treat rhinovirus infections in patients with COPD and other chronic lung diseases at the first sign of infection, before the virus triggers acute exacerbations and hospitalizations. The company holds exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize vapendavir (licensed from Vaxart) and is also advancing ALT-001, a major metabolite designated as a New Chemical Entity. As of mid-2026, vapendavir is being evaluated in the multinational Phase 2b CARDINAL trial enrolling 900 COPD patients across the United States and United Kingdom.

Product overview

Altesa BioSciences operates as a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company built around a single core product, vapendavir — an oral, first-in-class rhinovirus capsid inhibitor being developed to treat rhinovirus infections, with a lead Phase 2b CARDINAL program in COPD exacerbations. From the vapendavir program Altesa has also advanced ALT-001, a major metabolite designated as a New Chemical Entity, so the portfolio consists of the lead candidate vapendavir and the derivative candidate ALT-001, rather than a software platform with multiple modules.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Vapendavir: First-in-class orally administered rhinovirus capsid inhibitor; Altesa's lead investigational drug candidate targeting rhinovirus infections in COPD and other chronic lung diseases.

Products and services

• Vapendavir Vapendavir is Altesa's lead investigational product: a first-in-class, orally administered small-molecule rhinovirus capsid inhibitor. It is being developed to treat rhinovirus (HRV) infections at the first sign of infection in patients with COPD and other chronic lung diseases, with the goal of preventing rhinovirus-driven acute exacerbations and hospitalizations. It has demonstrated broad-spectrum activity against approximately 97% of rhinoviruses and respiratory enteroviruses and, uniquely, against all three rhinovirus species (RV-A, RV-B, and RV-C). It has been evaluated in over 700 clinical trial participants with a strong safety profile, and is currently in the Phase 2b CARDINAL multinational randomized placebo-controlled study enrolling 900 COPD patients in the U.S. and U.K. Altesa holds the exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize vapendavir under a license from Vaxart.
• ALT-001 ALT-001 is the major active metabolite of vapendavir, which Altesa has designated as a New Chemical Entity and is independently advancing as a drug candidate arising from the vapendavir program. It has demonstrated direct activity against all three rhinovirus species (RV-A, RV-B, and RV-C) in preclinical work, supporting the broad-spectrum antiviral potential of the vapendavir franchise.

Quantifiable outcome

• Median symptom resolution 5 days with vapendavir vs 8.5 days with placebo in Phase 2a COPD challenge study
• +4 more outcomes

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• COPD FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Altesa partnered with the COPD Foundation on the design of the Phase 2b CARDINAL clinical trial. The Foundation reviewed the study protocol and helped engage COPD patients through a roundtable review of operational aspects, patient needs, and protocol burden.
• bioMérieuxflagshipTechnology or Integration · 9 September 2025Altesa BioSciences and bioMérieux announced a collaboration for Altesa's upcoming Phase 2B COPD clinical trial. bioMérieux's BIOFIRE SPOTFIRE respiratory solution serves as the core point-of-care diagnostics platform at U.S. sites for detecting rhinovirus infections in trial participants.
• VirTus Respiratory Research Ltd.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2025Altesa partnered with VirTus Respiratory Research Ltd. in May 2025 to collect proof-of-concept data for late-stage clinical trials targeting virus-induced respiratory exacerbations. VirTus conducted the Phase 2a rhinovirus challenge study in London, co-led by Professor Sebastian Johnston (Imperial College London) and Michael Edwards, PhD (VirTus).
• Imperial College London (National Heart and Lung Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Professor Sebastian Johnston of Imperial College London's National Heart and Lung Institute is a key clinical collaborator on the Phase 2a challenge study and presented vapendavir data at the ERS 2025 and ATS 2026 congresses. Imperial College London and St. Mary's Hospital serve as UK partner trial sites for the Phase 2b CARDINAL study.
• VaxartflagshipOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing Partner · 1 January 2021Vaxart originally licensed Altesa the worldwide rights to develop and commercialize vapendavir in 2021 under an exclusive agreement worth up to $130 million in potential milestones and royalties. Vaxart retains an ongoing financial interest in vapendavir's success. Altesa holds exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize the drug.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• ReViral: Clinical-stage antiviral company developing oral therapies for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Direct peer to Altesa in the small-molecule oral antiviral-for-respiratory-virus category, with a similar development-stage profile (acquired by Pfizer in 2022 in a ~$525M deal that validated the antiviral-for-respiratory-virus thesis).
• Pardes Biosciences: Clinical-stage oral antiviral developer (initially focused on SARS-CoV-2, pivoting to other viral targets). Direct peer as a small-cap clinical-stage oral antiviral biotech using capsid/protease mechanism, sharing investor archetypes and platform dynamics with Altesa.
• Enanta Pharmaceuticals: Clinical-stage biopharma developing direct-acting antivirals (HCV, RSV, COVID) using small-molecule mechanisms. Direct peer in the respiratory antiviral small-molecule category with overlapping target classes (viral capsid/protease inhibitors) and similar licensing-driven revenue model.
• Vir Biotechnology: Clinical-stage immunology company developing antiviral therapies for serious respiratory infections (COVID, RSV, influenza). Direct peer in respiratory antiviral development with a similar monoclonal antibody and small-molecule platform approach.
• Pulmocide: Clinical-stage biopharma developing inhaled therapies for serious viral and fungal respiratory infections, including RSV. Direct peer targeting respiratory virus infections in vulnerable patient populations with similar clinical-stage profile.

Broad incumbents

• Shionogi: Japanese pharma that developed Xofluza (baloxavir marboxil), a first-in-class oral antiviral cap-dependent endonuclease inhibitor for influenza. Directly relevant precedent for an oral small-molecule respiratory antiviral commercialized at scale, though operating in flu rather than rhinovirus.
• Pfizer: Global pharma with major respiratory antiviral franchises (Paxlovid for COVID-19, RSV vaccines like Abrysvo). Broader incumbent in the respiratory antiviral space that acquired ReViral and represents a likely strategic acquirer for Altesa if vapendavir succeeds.
• Merck & Co. Global pharma with major antiviral portfolio including Molnupiravir (invented by Altesa co-founder George Painter at Emory). Represents both a strategic precedent and a potential competitor/acquirer in oral respiratory antivirals.

Emerging players

• Krystal Biotech: Clinical-to-commercial stage biotech with a respiratory focus (inhaled gene therapy for cystic fibrosis). Comparable emerging respiratory-focused biotech with similar Series B-to-commercial funding trajectory and strategic interest from larger respiratory players.
• Arcturus Therapeutics: Clinical-stage mRNA and small-molecule therapeutics company with a respiratory infectious disease focus (COVID, influenza). Emerging player in respiratory antivirals with comparable late-clinical-stage profile and similar investor mix (Sanofi partnership).

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/altesa-biosciences

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Altesa