Seelos Therapeutics Files Paperwork for $14 Million Offering

On 1/22/20 Seelos Therapeutics filed the paperwork for a $14 million offering of its common stock. The NY, NY based clinical-stage company is focused on developing products to address unmet needs in the CNS arena. They trade on NASDAQ under the symbol "SEEL."

Seelos currently has 6 products in various stages of development. The company's lead programs are SLS-002 for the potential treatment of suicidality in major depressive disorder ("MDD") and in post-traumatic stress disorder ("PTSD"), and SLS-005 for the potential treatment of Sanfilippo syndrome.

SLA-002 (intranasal racemic ketamine) is in Ph I development. However, these studies are expected to be rapidly followed by pivotal registration studies after meeting with the FDA. The prospectus cites data that indicates there are more than 500,000 visits to emergency rooms for suicide attempts in 2013 in the U.S. alone.

SLS-005 is IV Trehalose, a protein stabilizer that crosses the blood-brain-barrier and activates autophagy and lysosomal biogenesis. In animal models of several diseases associated with abnormal cellular-protein aggregation, it has been shown to reduce pathological aggregation of misfolded proteins as well as to activate autophagy pathways through the activation of Transcription Factor EB ("TFEB"), a key factor in lysosomal and autophagy gene expression. Sanfilippo syndrome, also known as mucopolysaccharidosis type III (MPS III), is a rare autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease that primarily affects the brain and spinal cord. It is caused by a buildup of large sugar molecules called glycosaminoglycans (AKA GAGs, or mucopolysaccharides) in the body's lysosomes.

SLS-005 is undergoing a clinical trial which is a combined Phase IIb/III, multicenter study. The company also intends to include Sanfilippo syndrome C and D patients as well as Sanfilippo syndrome A and B patients that do not meet the criteria of inclusion for the Phase IIb/III study in a separate expanded patient access study.

Seelos currently has a market cap of $37 million and is down 8.1% as of this writing.