The Danish biotech’s Phase 2a trial tested RTP-026 in sixty-six patients with STEMI, a severe form of heart attack, randomized to receive either RTP-026 or placebo. The drug was found to be safe and well tolerated – no deaths, no readmissions due to serious cardiac events, and no dropouts due to side effects. The study also showed promising efficacy signals: cardiac pumping function improved by 8 percentage points in both RTP-026 dose groups after ninety days, compared with 2.5 percentage points in the placebo group, and both treatment groups showed numerically smaller areas of damaged heart tissue. Notably, patients who received RTP-026 had signs of more severe heart attacks at baseline than those in the placebo group.

“We have now demonstrated that the treatment is safe, while also seeing the clinical efficacy signals we had hoped for. This gives us a strong basis for moving forward,” says Anders Kronborg, CEO of ResoTher Pharma.

The study was primarily designed to assess safety and was not powered to statistically confirm efficacy – a gap the company now aims to close.

A novel approach to limiting heart damage

RTP-026 is designed to protect the heart from further injury after a severe heart attack. Standard emergency treatment focuses on reopening the blocked coronary artery as quickly as possible, but even after blood flow is restored, the body’s subsequent inflammatory response can cause additional damage to the heart muscle. RTP-026 mimics a protein the body naturally produces to resolve inflammation and initiate tissue repair, without broadly suppressing the immune system – an approach known as resolution therapy. The technology is based on research into the body’s own inflammation-resolution mechanisms conducted at Queen Mary University of London, and ResoTher Pharma holds the rights to develop it as a treatment.

Toward Phase 2b and a commercial deal

The company is now preparing an international Phase 2b study, expected to start around the end of 2026, to confirm whether RTP-026 has the expected effect in a larger patient population. Results establishing the treatment’s efficacy are expected in the first half of 2028.

“If we succeed in Phase 2b, our ambition is to enter into an agreement with a major international pharmaceutical company that can take RTP-026 further toward the market through a partnership, licensing agreement, or sale,” Kronborg says.

An external analysis by Xplico estimates a potential value of approximately DKK 4.3 billion for ResoTher Pharma should RTP-026 deliver positive Phase 2b results.

“This is of course not a value we can assign to the company today. Phase 2b will be decisive, but transactions in the sector demonstrate the potential if we can document efficacy in the next study,” Kronborg says.

Cardiovascular deals have drawn billion-dollar price tags in recent years. Novo Nordisk acquired Corvidia Therapeutics in 2020 in a deal worth up to USD 2.1 billion, and it acquired Cardior Pharmaceuticals in 2024 in a deal worth up to EUR 1.025 billion.

A team with prior exits

ResoTher Pharma is led by Kronborg, formerly CFO and acting CEO of LEO Pharma. Co-founders Thomas Jonassen and Jeppe Øvlesen previously built Action Pharma, whose Phase 2b program was later sold to Abbott for USD 110 million, and board member Henrik Stage was CEO and CFO of Santaris Pharma, which he led through its sale to Roche. The board is chaired by Becki Morison, who brings more than twenty-five years of international pharmaceutical industry experience, including roles at Eli Lilly and LEO Pharma, and includes Professor Rod Flower, a pioneer in Annexin A1 research and author of more than 350 scientific publications.