What Hoth Therapeutics does

Hoth Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company (recently rebranded as Rocket One Inc., NASDAQ: RKTO, formerly HOTH) developing a multi-asset therapeutic pipeline targeting dermatology, oncology, metabolic disease, and Alzheimer's. Its core candidates include HT-001, a topical formulation addressing dermatologic toxicities from EGFR inhibitor cancer therapies (currently in Phase 2a CLEER trial); HT-KIT, an antisense oligonucleotide platform targeting MS4A6A pre-mRNA splicing, which has received FDA Orphan Drug Designation for rare KIT-driven cancers including systemic mastocytosis and GIST; HT-ALZ, an Alzheimer's candidate; and HT-VA/GDNF, a parenteral glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor therapy for obesity and metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD/MASLD) with preclinical data showing superior efficacy to semaglutide. Supporting these programs is OpenClaw, an in-house AI platform integrating preclinical and clinical datasets in real time, with additional AI capabilities derived from the company's acceptance into the NVIDIA Connect Program and use of OpenAI APIs for IND-enabling workflows.

The company has no commercial products and generates no net revenues; its business model relies entirely on capital markets, having raised approximately $47 million+ across multiple equity offerings since 2017, with H.C. Wainwright & Co. serving as recurring placement agent. Customers are not yet commercial end-users but rather the future pharmaceutical partners and licensing counterparties the company intends to court once clinical readouts materialize; clinical trial sites in the US (Florida), Hungary, Spain, and Poland serve as current distribution channels. In May 2026, the company executed a fundamental strategic pivot, rebrand to Rocket One Inc. and licensing spintronic semiconductor technology from Virginia Commonwealth University for nanomagnetic AI chips targeting space and defense applications, with legacy biotech assets to be housed in a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Operationally, Hoth remains a sub-scale entity (1-10 employees) with widening losses (net loss of $12.47M in 2025 vs. $8.19M in 2024) and only $6.25M in cash at year-end 2025, a position management explicitly flagged as insufficient to fund twelve months of operations absent further financing. The May 2026 pivot represents an explicit bet that the capital markets narrative, intellectual property portfolio, and management bandwidth will be more valuable redeployed into space/defense semiconductors than into continuing to fund a pre-revenue biotech pipeline.

Name

Hoth Therapeutics

Legal name

Hoth Therapeutics, Inc.

Website

https://hoththerapeutics.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Hoth Therapeutics (now Rocket One Inc.) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for dermatology, oncology, metabolic disease, and Alzheimer's, recently pivoting via rebrand to spintronic semiconductor technology for space and defense applications.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Clinical-stage biopharmaceuticals

NAICS

Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing (3254)

SIC

Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836), Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Genetic & Genomic Rare Disease Therapeutics (HLAIAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Rare Dermatology Disorder Therapies (HLAIAIAM), Endocrinology & Metabolic Specialty Pharmaceuticals (HLAIACAD), Drug Discovery (Target ID/Validation & Hit Discovery) (HLAIALAA), Target Identification & Validation Platforms (omics-driven, chemoproteomics, genetic validation) (HLAAAIAI)

Keywords

• Clinical-stage biopharmaceuticals
• Antisense oligonucleotide therapy
• Orphan oncology drug development
• Dermatology drug candidates
• Metabolic disease therapeutics

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. No Commercial Revenue: Pre-revenue clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with no products approved for commercial sale. Generates no net revenues. Relies entirely on equity financings and potential future licensing/partnership deals for capital.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Hoth Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of novel therapeutics across dermatology, oncology, and metabolic disease, including HT-001 (topical treatment for EGFR inhibitor skin toxicities), HT-KIT (orphan-designated antisense oligomer therapy for KIT-driven cancers), HT-ALZ (Alzheimer's candidate), and HT-VA/GDNF (parenteral metabolic therapy). The company also operates the OpenClaw AI platform to accelerate drug discovery and has no approved commercial products, generating no revenue and relying on equity financings and prospective licensing deals.

Product overview

Hoth Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a multi-program therapeutic pipeline. The company operates its core biotechnology programs (HT-001 for cancer therapy skin toxicity, HT-KIT for orphan oncology, HT-ALZ for Alzheimer's, and HT-VA/GDNF for obesity and fatty liver disease) alongside a proprietary AI platform called OpenClaw for accelerating drug discovery. The company has announced a strategic pivot to rebrand as Rocket One Inc., with biotechnology assets to be housed in a wholly-owned subsidiary while pursuing space technology and nanomagnetic AI chip opportunities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• HT-001 Novel topical therapeutic designed to treat dermatologic toxicities (skin rash, pain, itching) associated with EGFR inhibitor cancer therapies; demonstrated ~77% increase in systemic drug exposure with minimal systemic absorption, 100% clinical response rate with ~50% disease-severity reduction by Week 6, and over 65% of patients achieving meaningful pain/itch reductions without EGFR dose reductions.
• HT-KIT Orphan-designated antisense oligomer therapy (25-50 linked nucleosides) targeting MS4A6A pre-mRNA splicing to reduce surface expression of the high-affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI) for treatment of mastocytosis and rare KIT-driven cancers including systemic mastocytosis and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST); demonstrated over 80% KIT mRNA/protein reduction in preclinical xenograft models.
• HT-VA (GDNF) Parenteral glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) therapy for obesity and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MAFLD/MASLD); demonstrated 10-15% weight gain attenuation, 20-30% liver weight reduction, statistically significant reductions in Srebf1 and increased Pparα expression in MAFLD models, and superior preclinical efficacy versus semaglutide.
• HT-ALZ Therapeutic candidate in development for Alzheimer's disease, with key milestones expected in 2026 as part of Hoth's broader neuroscience and inflammatory disease pipeline.
• OpenClaw AI Platform Proprietary AI-enabled computational platform that integrates preclinical and clinical datasets in real time to accelerate drug discovery across the therapeutic pipeline in dermatology, oncology, and inflammatory diseases; leverages OpenAI API and NVIDIA Connect Program access for IND-enabling studies, molecular modeling, and regulatory documentation workflows.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100% clinical response rate with ~50% reduction in disease severity in EGFR inhibitor patients treated with HT-001 by Week 6
• +5 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)coreTechnology or Integration · 19 May 2026Exclusive licensing rights to two spintronic semiconductor technologies developed at VCU: nanomagnetic matrix multiplier for AI acceleration and skyrmion-based spintronic memory platform targeting defense and space computing. Part of Rocket One Inc. restructuring.
• Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLPsupportingOthers · 19 May 2026Legal opinion provided for SEC prospectus supplement filing as part of at-the-market offering resumption. Included as exhibits to regulatory filings.
• Emory UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 April 2026Research partnership for HT-VA (GDNF) study demonstrating parenteral GDNF's effect on liver fat metabolism genes in diet-induced obesity model of MAFLD. Partnership with VA support yielded statistically significant results.
• Regis Clinical ResearchsupportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 24 February 2026Miami-based clinical research site added as new enrolling location for CLEER-001 Phase 2a clinical trial of HT-001 due to increasing patient demand. Supports expansion of dermatologic toxicity treatment trial.
• NVIDIAsupportingTechnology or Integration · 20 November 2025Accepted into NVIDIA Connect Program, gaining access to advanced computing resources and AI tools to accelerate drug research and development. Supports therapeutic pipelines including pruritus, mast-cell modulation, Alzheimer's, and metabolic diseases.
• U.S. Department of Veterans AffairscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 October 2025Co-development partnership for GDNF (HT-VA) therapy for obesity and fatty liver disease. VA-backed preclinical study led by Atlanta VA Medical Center evaluating metabolic and neurotrophic mechanisms. CRADA (Cooperative Research and Development Agreement) study demonstrated superior efficacy to semaglutide.
• Srinivasan LabsupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Academic research partnership conducting 12-week preclinical obesity study demonstrating GDNF therapy's superior efficacy over semaglutide in female mouse models.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Cogent Biosciences: Cogent Biosciences develops precision therapies for KIT-driven cancers including systemic mastocytosis. Most directly comparable to Hoth's HT-KIT rare KIT-driven cancer indication, making it a key competitive peer in the same therapeutic niche.

Direct peers

• Ionis Pharmaceuticals: Ionis is the pioneer of antisense oligonucleotide drug development, making it the most directly comparable peer to Hoth's HT-KIT splice-switching antisense platform. Both companies leverage ASO chemistry to target pre-mRNA splicing for therapeutic intervention in rare and inflammatory diseases.
• Arcturus Therapeutics: Arcturus develops RNA-based therapeutics including antisense and mRNA technologies for rare diseases and metabolic disorders. Comparable platform technology and therapeutic area focus to Hoth's antisense oligonucleotide pipeline.
• Wave Life Sciences: Wave Life Sciences develops stereopure antisense oligonucleotides for rare diseases and neurological disorders. Comparable to Hoth's HT-KIT ASO platform and HT-ALZ Alzheimer's program in splicing-modulating chemistry.
• Krystal Biotech: Krystal Biotech focuses on rare dermatological diseases with its topical gene therapy platform. Highly comparable to Hoth's HT-001 topical approach for dermatologic toxicities and shared emphasis on rare dermatology indications.
• Sarepta Therapeutics: Sarepta is a clinical-stage to commercial antisense oligonucleotide company with FDA-approved therapies for rare genetic diseases. Comparable to Hoth in ASO platform technology, focus on orphan indications, and reliance on RNA-targeting chemistry for unmet medical needs.
• Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical: Ultragenyx is a rare disease biopharma with multiple clinical and commercial-stage products targeting genetic disorders. Comparable business model focused exclusively on rare disease therapeutics with regulatory designation strategy.
• Madrigal Pharmaceuticals: Madrigal is a clinical-stage to commercial biopharma focused on MASH/NASH (metabolic liver disease). Highly comparable to Hoth's HT-VA/GDNF metabolic platform targeting MASLD/MAFLD with differentiated mechanism.
• BioMarin Pharmaceutical: BioMarin is a rare disease-focused biopharma company with multiple approved and clinical-stage therapies. Comparable to Hoth's HT-KIT orphan oncology focus and emphasis on genetic and rare disease drug development with regulatory exclusivity strategies.

Broad incumbents

• Intercept Pharmaceuticals: Intercept pioneered FXR agonists for chronic liver disease including NASH. Comparable to Hoth's metabolic liver disease focus (MASLD/MAFLD), though as a larger established player with commercial infrastructure.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/hothinc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hoth-therapeutics-inc

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds9 records

Investors

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 Hoth Therapeutics