Our long-standing interest in the cytoskeleton has led us to focus our research and development activities on the biology of muscle function, and in particular, small molecule modulation of muscle contractility. We believe that our expertise in the modulation of the contractility of each of cardiac, skeletal and smooth muscle is an important differentiator for us. Our established preclinical and clinical expertise in muscle contractility may position us to discover and develop additional novel therapies that have the potential to improve the health of patients with severe and debilitating diseases or medical conditions.

Small molecules that affect muscle contractility may have several applications for a variety of serious diseases and medical conditions. For example, heart failure is a disease often characterized by impaired cardiac muscle contractility which may be treated by modulating the contractility of cardiac muscle; certain neuromuscular diseases and medical conditions associated with muscle weakness may be amenable to treatment by enhancing the contractility of skeletal muscle; hypertension is a disease in which elevated blood pressure may be decreased by relaxation of the arterial smooth muscle; and asthma is a disease in which constriction of the airways may be treated by relaxation of the airway smooth muscle.

Because each muscle type may be relevant to multiple diseases or medical conditions, we believe we can leverage our expertise in each of cardiac, skeletal and smooth muscle contractility to more efficiently discover and develop as potential drugs compounds that modulate the applicable muscle type for multiple indications. In addition, muscle has biological functions other than contractility. Accordingly, our knowledge and expertise could also serve as an entry point to the discovery of novel treatments for disorders involving muscle functions other than muscle contractility, such as muscle metabolism and energetics.