Retension Pharmaceuticals, a Phase 2b biotech developing an in-licensed treatment for hypertension, filed on Friday with the SEC to raise up to $58 million in an initial public offering.
Retension Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a single asset, RTN-001, a once-daily oral PDE-5 inhibitor for uncontrolled and resistant hypertension. First-generation PDE-5 inhibitors such as Viagra never delivered meaningful blood pressure reductions, which the company attributes to poor penetration of the smooth-muscle-rich central vasculature, and RTN-001 was re-engineered for higher bioavailability and greater distribution into those tissues. The compound was developed at Surface Logix and passed through Nano Terra, Kadmon, and Sanofi before the current team relicensed it in 2023, bringing data from nine completed trials including two Phase 2 pilots. A 280-patient Phase 2b dose-ranging trial began in October 2025 and is roughly 40% enrolled, with initial data expected in the first half of 2027.
The Falls Church, VA-based company was founded in 2023 and plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol RTSN. Retension Pharmaceuticals filed confidentially on December 31, 2025. Leerink Partners, Guggenheim Securities, and Oppenheimer & Co. are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.
