Verseon Corporation presented a second development candidate for clinical trials from its anticoagulation program at the American Heart Association's (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2017. VE-2851 shows excellent efficacy paired with low bleeding risk in preclinical testing and is expected to enter clinical trials in 2018. The candidate potently inhibits thrombin and is highly selective against a panel of related serine proteases. VE-2851 also shows pharmacokinetics suitable for oral dosing and was well tolerated in a 14-day dose-range finding study. In preclinical efficacy models such as the arteriovenous shunt thrombosis model, the compound displayed comparable efficacy to marketed anticoagulants. Similar to Verseon's first development candidate VE-1902, which is expected to enter phase I trials in early 2018, VE-2851 likewise potently inhibits thrombosis, but does not disrupt platelet function. It shows 30-40-fold weaker inhibition of thrombin-mediated platelet activation in vitro and allows up to 5-fold higher maximum platelet activation in vivo compared to current NOACs. This distinguishing feature of Verseon's anticoagulants provides a biological rationale for their improved hemostatic control and the resulting lower bleeding risk observed in preclinical bleeding time tests.