Vast Therapeutics is a clinical stage, airway immunology company focused on breaking the vicious cycle of infection and chronic inflammation in respiratory diseases. Our proprietary portfolio of small and large molecule New Chemical Entities deliver broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity without the risk of developing drug resistance.

KNOW Bio, LLC is a life science portfolio company utilizing an extensive catalog of intellectual property to develop unique treatments aimed at revolutionizing the standard of care for many indications. Privately held, our corporate strategy forms subsidiaries focusing on specific therapeutic areas, diseases or conditions through the combination of our proprietary technologies and teams of experienced personnel for each subsidiary. REVIAN, Inc. EmitBio, Inc. Vast Therapeutics, Inc.KNOW Bio provides capital for the startup, support services, facilities and, in certain cases, research assistance. Once the subsidiary has an appropriate opportunity, we then pursue a sale, IPO or other financing around that subsidiary to provide capital returns to our investors or operating capital for portfolio companies.

Novan, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on leveraging nitric oxide’s natural antiviral and immunomodulatory mechanisms of action to treat dermatological and oncovirus-mediated diseases. We believe that our ability to conveniently deploy nitric oxide in a solid form, on demand and in localized formulations allows us the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes in a variety of diseases.

Led or participated in the execution of >90 nonclinical studies across the translational science spectrum including in vitro/in vivo pharmacology studies to support target engagement as well as in vitro/in vivo toxicology studies from from IND through NDA.Led the federal grant and contract research program totaling 12 federal awards (NIH, NSF, DOD, BARDA) with a 52% success rate totaling north of $15M in awarded funding. Served as the Principle Investigator on 10 of the 12 successfully awarded projects. Successfully scaled NCE technology from academic bench top to commercial scale as an integral part of the process chemistry, process development, and engineering team.Oversight of all functions of CMC development including drug substance, drug product, and analytical testing from IND to EOP2. Developed a collaborative approach with the agency for a macromolecular drug delivery technology that incorporates critical quality attributes from a blend of regulatory guidance documents.Key participant in the drafting of pre-meeting materials and attendee at formal meetings with the FDA including pre-IND, EOP2, and pre-NDA type B meetings.In partnership with the Chief Medical Officer or Chief Development Officer, directed the clinical development program which encompassed numerous Phase 1 studies and five successful Phase 2 studies across 4 indications with diverse modes of action and included clinical testing of three proprietary nitric oxide product formulations. As a co-Inventor and in combination with the Vice President of Intellectual Capital, developed a robust IP portfolio that included over 100 patent and applications prosecuted both domestically and in international major markets. Led the teamwide effort to maximize shareholder value pre-IPO in therapeutic indications outside the field of dermatology which resulted in the creation of a wholly owned subsidiary, KnowBio, LLC which was subsequently spun-out as a private entity pre-IPO in 2015.

KNOW Bio, LLC was created in late 2015 from the separation of all non-dermatological assets from Novan, Inc (NASDAQ: NOVN) as part of the entrepreneurial vision to develop and optimize a proprietary nitric oxide platform from Co-Founders Dr. Mark Schoenfisch and Dr. Nathan Stasko. The core suite of chemistries enable the delivery of nitric oxide as a drug in a variety of doses and release time frames, which makes the therapeutic areas that will likely be impacted by this platform immense. Founding Investor of Novan, Inc, Neal Hunter, now leads KnowBio,LLC as Managing Director and Chairman of its Board of Managers.