Altheos Inc.

At its inception, Altheos licensed a series of selective Rho-kinase inhibitors for glaucoma from Asahi Kasei Pharma, and it plans to move the lead candidate into clinical trials in the coming year. Although the start-up is behind several companies that already have ongoing ROCK inhibitor trials, Altheos believes its approach to drug discovery and medicinal chemistry make its therapeutic likely to prove itself the best among the new class of medicines for staving off vision loss from glaucoma.