TAO Synergies Inc.

Explanatory Note

From August 23, 2013 to December 6, 2020, Synaptogenix, Inc. (formerly known as Neurotrope Bioscience, Inc.) (the “Company” or “Synaptogenix”) was a wholly owned subsidiary of Neurotrope, Inc. (“Neurotrope”). Neurotrope’s operations were solely those of Synaptogenix. On May 17, 2020, Neurotrope announced plans for the complete legal and structural separation of Synaptogenix from Neurotrope (the “Spin-Off”). Under the Separation and Distribution Agreement between Neurotrope and Synaptogenix (the “Separation and Distribution Agreement”), Neurotrope distributed all of its equity interest in Synaptogenix to Neurotrope’s stockholders. Following the Spin-Off, Neurotrope does not own any equity interest in Synaptogenix, and Synaptogenix operates independently from Neurotrope. On December 6, 2020, Neurotrope approved the final distribution ratio and holders of record of Neurotrope common stock, Neurotrope preferred stock and certain warrants as of November 30, 2020 received a pro rata distribution of all the equity interest in Synaptogenix. On June 25, 2025, we filed a Certificate of Amendment to its Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of State for the State of Delaware, effective June 26, 2025, to change the name of the Company from “Synaptogenix, Inc.” to “TAO Synergies Inc.” Additionally, the ticker symbol for the Company’s common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market was changed from “SNPX” to “TAOX.” On September 26, 2025, we formed a subsidiary TAOX Florida Inc. for the purpose of facilitating our expansion into the cryptocurrency treasury strategy business.

For more information about the Spin-Off, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Result of Operation – Overview – Spin Off from Neurotrope, Inc.” When used in this report, the terms “we,” the “Company,” “our,” and “us” refers to TAO Synergies Inc.

Introduction

TAO Synergies Inc. (formerly known as Synaptogenix, Inc.) was exclusively a biopharmaceutical company with product candidates in pre-clinical and clinical development that began operations in October 2012. We are principally focused on developing a product platform based upon a drug candidate called Bryostatin-1 for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. We are also evaluating Bryostatin-1 for other neurodegenerative or cognitive diseases and dysfunctions, such as Fragile X syndrome and Multiple Sclerosis, which have undergone pre-clinical testing.

Neurotrope, our predecessor company, had been a party to a technology license and services agreement with the original Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute (which has been known as Cognitive Research Enterprises, Inc. since October 2016), and its affiliate NRV II, LLC, which we collectively refer to herein as “CRE,” pursuant to which we now have an exclusive non-transferable license to certain patents and technologies required to develop our proposed products. We were formed for the primary purpose of commercializing the technologies initially developed by BRNI for therapeutic applications for AD or other cognitive dysfunctions. These technologies have been under development by BRNI since 1999 and, until March 2013, had been financed through funding from a variety of non-investor sources (which include not-for-profit foundations, the NIH, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and individual philanthropists). From March 2013 forward, development of the licensed technology has been funded principally through us in collaboration with CRE.

On June 9, 2025, in connection with our previously announced exploration of strategic opportunities, we announced the launch of a differentiated cryptocurrency treasury strategy focused on the pure play artificial intelligence (AI) crypto coin, TAO, the native cryptocurrency of Bittensor, a decentralized blockchain network for machine learning and AI. On June 25, 2025, we filed a Certificate of Amendment to its Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of State for the State of Delaware, effective June 26, 2025, to change our name from “Synaptogenix, Inc.” to “TAO Synergies Inc.” On September 26, 2025, we formed a subsidiary TAOX Florida Inc. for the purpose of facilitating our expansion into the cryptocurrency treasury strategy business.

In December 2024, we announced via press release that the board of directors of the Company (the “Board”) had formed an independent special committee (the “Special Committee”) to explore strategic opportunities to create and enhance value for investors, including promising drug development platforms and/or compelling new technologies and services.

As a result of the Special Committee’s efforts, we launched its differentiated cryptocurrency treasury strategy, as described above, to stake TAO for revenue generation and capital appreciation, a strategy which underscores our mission to create value for shareholders.

Background on TAO and Bittensor

Bittensor is a public Layer 1 blockchain, called Subtensor, built with the Substrate framework and organized into independent “subnets” where miners produce digital commodities (commonly AI outputs) and validators evaluate them. Depending on the subnet’s incentive mechanism, miners may produce digital commodities that can include, for example, text prompt completions and other question-answer outputs, vector embeddings and related semantic search or ranking outputs, code-related outputs, image generation outputs, and speech-to-text transcription outputs. On chain, an algorithm named Yuma Consensus aggregates validators’ rankings of miners to compute emissions (new tokens minted by the protocol) for miners, validators, stakers, and subnet creators. This mechanism is widely referred to in project materials as Bittensor’s “Proof-of-Intelligence” consensus model. In this context, “consensus” refers to stake-weighted convergence on subnet validator scoring used to allocate emissions and other incentives, and not to transaction ordering or block finality, which are currently provided on Subtensor through a separate proof-of-authority authority set. Subtensor’s transaction ordering and block finality are currently provided by a proof of authority model under which a small, permissioned “authority set” produces and finalizes blocks. TAO is the Network’s native token and is used to pay transaction fees, incentivize subnet participants, and for staking. Staking TAO affects how emissions and incentives are allocated (including by influencing validator stake weight and related reward calculations and, under dTAO (defined below), by staking into a subnet’s on-chain pool to receive that subnet’s alpha token) and may affect governance participation. Staking TAO does not itself validate or finalize Subtensor transactions. TAO is, however, also used for governance (including voting power that may be exercised directly or via delegation) and may be used to create/register subnets under protocol rules.

As of March 26, 2026, TAO’s circulating supply was approximately 10.8 million tokens with a market capitalization of approximately $3.62 billion, according to publicly available sources. The lifecycle of TAO follows a supply schedule. Approximately one block is produced every ~12 seconds, with 1 TAO per block minted before the first halving (about 7,200 TAO/day), and 0.5 TAO per block minted after the first halving (about 3,600 TAO/day). The first halving occurred when total issuance reached 10.5 million TAO on December 15, 2025. TAO is not halved on a daily basis. Instead, the per-block emission rate decreases by 50% when predetermined issuance thresholds are reached. TAO has a hard cap of 21,000,000 tokens. Subtensor transaction fees are paid in TAO. Current public documentation indicates that transaction fees are deducted from total issuance rather than distributed as rewards. Accordingly, subnet miners and subnet validators generally do not receive TAO as transaction-fee awards for validating transactions, and instead earn rewards primarily through protocol emissions. In addition, per current documentation, certain staking-related transactions are described as subject to a percentage-based fee (for example, 0.05% of the TAO amount being staked or unstaked), in addition to any weight-based transaction fees (in this context “weight” is a measure of compute time).

Under the February 13, 2025 Dynamic TAO (dTAO) upgrade, newly issued TAO is first routed to subnets under protocol rules that, as of November 2025, allocate TAO across subnets based on net TAO inflows from staking activity rather than subnet token prices, and staking into a subnet exchanges TAO for that subnet’s alpha token. Subnet alpha tokens are subnet-specific tokens a participant receives when staking TAO into the subnet’s on-chain market pool, and the alpha token to subnet exchange rate is generally determined by the pool’s reserves. Exits convert alpha tokens back to TAO at the prevailing pool exchange rate at the time of conversion, so outcomes are price sensitive. According to current documentation, emissions for each subnet are generally distributed at the end of every approximately 360 blocks, or about 72 minutes, and the subnet’s participant distribution is generally allocated 41% to miners, 41% to validators and their stakers, and 18% to the subnet owner. The Bittensor blockchain does not impose protocol-enforced delays (unbonding periods) in accessing unstaked TAO. That said, custodians, validators, liquidity pools, or other service providers and operational setups may impose operational, contractual, or practical limits on withdrawal timing or liquidity.

The initial Bittensor mainnet “Kusanagi” launched in January 2021, was followed by the “Nakamoto” upgrade in November 2021, then a fork to the current “Finney” chain on March 20, 2023. Subnets went live on October 2, 2023. Governance has transitioned to a bicameral model in which a Triumvirate (employees of the Opentensor Foundation) authors proposals and a Senate (a group of delegates who have elected to participate in proposals) must approve the proposals prior to implementation. The Senate is comprised of the top delegate hotkeys by stake. In this specific context, a “hotkey” is the operational public key used by a participant to conduct on-chain actions (including by a validator), and a “delegate” is a hotkey that accepts delegated TAO from third parties for staking. “Top” refers to the delegate hotkeys with the highest total stake at a given time. Per current documentation, the Senate has 12 seats (although not all must be filled), and a delegate generally must reach at least 2% of total network stake amount through delegation or self-stake

and elect to participate in the Senate. If all twelve Senate seats are filled, and a delegate wishes to join, the lowest stake member is replaced. Because Senate membership is stake-based, governance influence may be concentrated among large stakers and delegates.

Our Cryptocurrency Asset Strategy

In June 2025, we adopted a differentiated cryptocurrency treasury strategy focused on the pure play artificial intelligence (AI) crypto coin, TAO, the native cryptocurrency of Bittensor. Bittensor is a decentralized blockchain network for machine learning and AI. This was a shift from our prior approach of holding excess cash (as defined below) primarily in FDIC-insured interest-bearing accounts. We now seek to allocate substantial portions of our excess cash to purchasing TAO, with the goal of obtaining an increased yield on excess cash by staking TAO for revenue generation and capital appreciation, a strategy that underscores our mission to create significant value for shareholders.

To identify “excess cash,” we first evaluate our cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments (collectively, “cash assets”). We then estimate the amount of cash assets required to fund approximately 1.5 to 2.0 years of projected operating and working capital needs. Cash assets in excess of this estimated liquidity requirement are considered “excess cash” for purposes of our TAO accumulation strategy. By allocating a substantial portion of our excess cash to TAO, we generally mean that we seek to allocate between 75 percent and 100 percent of this excess cash to the purchase of TAO. However, actual allocation levels may vary due to market conditions, the prevailing price of TAO, liquidity needs, and other factors considered by management.

To guide our cryptocurrency asset purchases, our Board adopted a long-only TAO accumulation strategy and has delegated authority to our Executive Chairman, in consultation with internal personnel and external advisors, to determine the timing, size, and method of TAO purchases with the objective of maximizing tokens per share. Under this authority, management reviews our cash assets, identifies any excess cash as described above, and determines whether to allocate such excess cash to the acquisition of TAO. In addition to using excess cash, our acquisition strategy may also involve issuing debt or equity securities or undertaking other capital raising transactions, subject to market conditions, with the objective of using the proceeds to purchase additional TAO.

We have not established a specific target amount of TAO that we seek to hold. Instead, we monitor market conditions, liquidity needs, and financing opportunities in determining whether to make additional TAO purchases in the future. We view our TAO holdings as long-term holdings and expect to continue accumulating TAO over time. As of September 10, 2025, approximately 88% of our treasury holdings were invested in TAO. We do not hedge our TAO exposure and have no diversification strategy into other crypto assets. Accordingly, our treasury strategy currently reflects long-only exposure to TAO. However, we are exploring the potential implementation of hedging strategies to manage risks associated with digital asset price volatility; we have not implemented any hedging strategies to date, and there can be no assurance that any such strategies will be implemented or, if implemented, effective.

Although a liquid market for TAO exists, we have not monetized (i.e., sold) any TAO to date. All TAO is staked as soon as trade settlement permits, and we currently stake TAO through two staking providers - tao5 and Yuma. We only engage in TAO staking. In the future, we may explore additional yield-enhancement strategies, including participation in Bittensor subnets. Any such activity would likely be undertaken with a third-party partner possessing substantial subnet expertise.

Our Staking Program

We stake our TAO tokens, with the percentage staked varying based on various liquidity and operational considerations, and review this allocation periodically. All staking services are provided through BitGo pursuant to the terms of a Custodial Services Agreement (“CSA”) and the BitGo Staking & Delegation Services Terms (collectively, the “Staking Terms”) which are described below under the heading “Use of Custodians and Storage of TAO Tokens.” In addition, we have entered into a non-custodial Staking & Delegation Technology Services Agreement with Yuma Validator, LLC (the “Yuma Agreement”) under which Yuma operates a validator for root subnet staking on the Bittensor network. Yuma does not custody our TAO or any rewards. For 18 months following the effective date of that agreement, we are required to delegate at least 90% of TAO subject to root subnet staking to a Yuma validator.

The Custodian currently supports staking TAO to the tao5 and Yuma validators pursuant to its Staking Terms. Under these terms, the Custodian or its designated third-party providers, with input from the Company, stake delegated TAO, and exercise any validation rights and voting rights (which do not include protocol governance or voting rights), and distribute net rewards subject to

validator service fees. The Bittensor blockchain does not impose protocol-enforced delays or unbonding periods. We do not currently engage in subnet staking or participate in AMM pools, but may do so in the future. Yuma’s role is non-custodial, and its commission rate pursuant to the Yuma Agreement is the publicly posted validator commission on the Bittensor blockchain and may change from time to time.

Bittensor is a public Layer 1 blockchain, called Subtensor, built with the Substrate framework and organized into independent “subnets” where miners produce digital commodities (commonly AI outputs) and validators evaluate them. On chain, an algorithm named Yuma Consensus aggregates validators’ rankings of miners to compute emissions (new tokens minted by the protocol) for miners, validators, stakers, and subnet creators. This incentive mechanism is widely referred to in project materials as “Proof-of-Intelligence.” TAO is the Network’s native token and is used to pay transaction fees, incentivize subnet participants, and for staking.

We rely on the Custodian to facilitate our staking activities with respect to TAO tokens. Through its staking services, the Custodian holds and stakes our TAO through its selected validators tao5 and Yuma.

All miner-performance validation in Bittensor occurs within subnets; block/transaction validation occurs on the Subtensor blockchain. Each subnet independently produces the digital commodities that are its focus, with the subnet creator defining an incentive mechanism for validators to use in judging miners’ work. Validators apply this incentive mechanism to miners, score their performance, and submit these weights to the Bittensor blockchain. These validator scores are then used by the Yuma Consensus algorithm to determine the proportion of the subnet’s emissions that should be allocated to each miner.

Each validator submits its rankings of miners it has evaluated to the Bittensor blockchain. The algorithm then considers all these rankings and seeks to identify which validators appear to provide the most reliable evaluations. Validators whose rankings appear to consistently align with those of other validators should gain more influence in the system, while validators that submit less reliable evaluations are expected to lose influence.

How We Earn Staking Rewards

As holders of TAO tokens we can stake any amount of the liquidity we hold to a validator. Also known as “delegation”, staking supports validators, because their total stake in the subnet, including stake delegated to them by others, determines their consensus power and their share of emissions. After the validator extracts their take, the remaining emissions are credited back to us in proportion to our stake with that validator. We stake TAO tokens through arrangements facilitated and managed by the Custodian and its selected validators, tao5 and Yuma (together, the “Validators”). For a further discussion of the risks related to staking, see “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Staking” elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

In June 2025, we entered into a Custodial Services Agreement (“CSA”) with BitGo Bank and Trust, N.A. (formerly known as Bitgo Trust Company, Inc. (the “Custodian”), which is a national trust bank chartered and regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and licensed to act as a custodian, for a six-month initial term with automatic six-month renewals unless terminated. Termination may occur for convenience with 60 days’ prior written notice or for breach with 30 days’ notice. Assets held under the agreement are generally maintained in segregated custodial accounts, separate from the Custodian’s own assets and other clients’ assets per the CSA. The Custodian provides quarterly electronic account statements and, upon request, will confirm asset holdings. To value TAO held in our account, the Custodian electronically obtains USD equivalent prices from digital asset market data with amounts rounded up to the seventh decimal place to the right. Insurance coverage maintained by the Custodian is described further below. Access to the Company’s custodial account holding TAO is generally limited to persons designated by us through the Custodian’s user interface. The Prime Broker (defined below) is permitted limited access to the Company’s custodial account solely to facilitate the execution of trades of TAO.

In June 2025, we also entered into a Master Purchase Agreement (“MPA”) with BitGo Prime LLC (the “Prime Broker”), which is a Delaware limited liability company, to facilitate digital asset trading through the Prime Broker’s proprietary electronic trading

system. The agreement operates on a principal-to-principal basis, with each party acting for its own account and not as agent or fiduciary to the other party. All transactions are settled through, and custodied at, the Custodian under the CSA described herein. The Custodian maintains sole and exclusive custody of the Company’s TAO at all times, including during the pendency of trading activity by the Prime Broker. Notwithstanding the Company’s use of the Prime Broker to facilitate trading activities, the Prime Broker does not at any time take custody, possession, or control of the Company’s TAO assets. Pursuant to the MPA, upon confirmation of a trade, settlement occurs on a delivery-versus-payment basis, whereby the Prime Broker facilitates the simultaneous exchange of U.S. dollars from the Company’s custodial account maintained with the Custodian in consideration for the delivery of the corresponding TAO tokens to such account. This settlement mechanism is designed to mitigate counterparty risk by ensuring that the transfer of funds and digital assets occurs concurrently and that the Company’s TAO assets remain in the custody of the Custodian throughout the transaction lifecycle. Access to the Company’s trading account is generally restricted to users it designates. The Prime Broker uses the Custodian’s balance inquiry functionality to verify the existence of sufficient assets before executing trades. The MPA terminates automatically upon termination of the CSA, and the Prime Broker reserves the right to suspend or modify services at its discretion.

On September 22, 2025, we announced the launch of The TAO Daily, our comprehensive media, news, and insight platform dedicated to Bittensor (TAO) and the TAO ecosystem. The TAO Daily platform aims to highlight the Bittensor ecosystem developments and provide transparency into the rapidly growing world of decentralized AI. The platform also aims to centralize resources useful to TAO users and investors. Additionally, a new podcast, The TAO Pod, is hosted by James Altucher and Joseph Jacks, well-known TAO ecosystem leader and crypto treasury advisor to the Company.

On June 8, 2025, the Company entered into a consulting agreement (the “Altucher Consulting Agreement”) with James Altucher and Z-List Media, Inc., pursuant to which Mr. Altucher will assist the Company with, among other things, crypto portfolio management; investor relations; strategic planning; deal flow analysis and advice related to sector growth initiatives. The Altucher Consulting Agreement has a term of one- year.

In connection with the entry into the Altucher Consulting Agreement, the Company issued to Mr. Altucher warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,200,000 shares of Common Stock, consisting of: (i) a warrant to purchase up to 400,000 shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $4.00 per share (the “First Tranche Warrant”), (ii) a warrant to purchase up to 200,000 shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $6.00 per share (the “Second Tranche Warrant”), (iii) a warrant to purchase up to 200,000 shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $8.00 per share (the “Third Tranche Warrant”) and (iv) a warrant to purchase up to 400,000 shares of Common Stock at exercise price of $12.00 per share (the “Fourth Tranche Warrant” and together the First Tranche Warrant, the Second Tranche Warrant and the Third Tranche Warrant, the “Consultant Warrants”) with each warrant subject to exercisability, forfeiture and such other terms as set forth therein. The shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Consultant Warrants are referred to herein as the “Consultant Warrant Shares”.

Pursuant to the First Tranche Warrant: (i) 200,000 Consultant Warrant Shares are immediately exercisable upon issuance and (ii) the remaining 200,000 Consultant Warrant Shares will be exercisable upon the retention of a mutually agreeable treasury manager. Pursuant to the Second Tranche Warrant, the Consultant Warrant Shares will be exercisable on the 3-month anniversary of the date of issuance. Pursuant to the Third Tranche Warrant, the Consultant Warrant Shares will be exercisable on the 6-month anniversary of the date of issuance. Pursuant to the Fourth Tranche Warrant, the Consultant Warrant Shares will be exercisable on the one-year anniversary of the date of issuance. Each of the Consultant Warrants expire five years from the date of issuance.

On August 26, 2025, the Company issued a press release announcing the engagement of Joseph Jacks as an advisor to its digital asset treasury strategy led by James Altucher. In connection with the engagement of Joseph Jacks, the Company entered into a consulting agreement with a term of one year with Mr. Jacks, pursuant to which the Company issued warrants exercisable for 100,000 shares of common stock, at an exercise price of $8.40 per share that will expire five years from the date of issuance.

The foregoing descriptions of the Altucher Consulting Agreement, the Consultant Warrants and the Jacks Consulting Agreement do not purport to be complete and are qualified in their entirety by reference to the full texts of the Altucher Consulting Agreement, Form of Consultant Warrant and Jacks Consulting Agreement, copies of which are filed as Exhibit 10.37, 4.25 and 10.38 to this Annual Report.

Results of Phase 2 Clinical Trial

On May 1, 2017, Neurotrope reported certain relevant top-line results from our Phase 2 exploratory clinical trial based on a preliminary analysis of a limited portion of the complete data set generated. A comprehensive analysis of the data from the Phase 2 exploratory trial evaluating Bryostatin-1 as a treatment of cognitive deficits in moderate to severe AD were published in theJournal of Alzheimer’s Disease, vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 555-570, 2019. A total of 147 patients were enrolled into the study; 135 patients in the mITT population (as defined below) and 113 in the Completer population (as defined below). The study evaluated two Bryostatin-1 dose levels versus placebo over 12 weeks.

The pre-specified primary endpoint, the SIB, compared each dose of Bryostatin-1 with placebo at week 13 in two sets of patients: (1) the modified intent-to-treat (“mITT”) population, consisting of all patients who received study drug and had at least one efficacy/safety evaluation, and (2) the “Completer” population, consisting of those patients within the mITT population who completed the 13-week dosing protocol and cognitive assessments.

These announced top-line results indicated that the 20 µg dose, met the pre-specified primary endpoint in the Completer population, but not in the mITT population. Among the patients who completed the protocol (n = 113), the patients on the 20 µg dose at 13 weeks showed a mean increase on the SIB of 1.5 versus a decrease in the placebo group of -1.1 (net improvement of 2.6, p < 0.07), whereas, in the mITT population, the 20 µg group had a mean increase on the SIB of 1.2 versus a decrease in the placebo group of -0.8 (net improvement of 2.0, p < 0.134). Early time-point improvements were also observed

The Alzheimer Disease Cooperative Study Activities of Daily Living Inventory Severe Impairment version (the “ADCS-ADL-SIV”) was another pre-specified secondary endpoint. The p values for the comparisons between 20 µg and placebo for the ADCS-ADL endpoint at 13 weeks were 0.082 for the Completers and 0.104 for the mITT population. These analyses suggested functional signals consistent with the cognitive findings.

Together, these initial results provided signals that Bryostatin-1, at the 20 µg dose, caused sustained improvement in cognition in patients with moderate to severe AD.

The safety profile of Bryostatin-1 20 µg was generally similar to the placebo group, except for a higher incidence of diarrhea and infusion reactions (11% versus 2% for diarrhea and 17% versus 6% for infusion reactions).

Following presentation of the top line results in July 2017 at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London, a comprehensive analysis of a complete set of the Phase 2 trial data was conducted.

On January 5, 2018, Neurotrope announced that a pre-specified exploratory analysis of the comprehensive data set from our recent Phase 2 trial in patients with advanced AD found evidence of sustained improvement in cognition in patients receiving the 20 µg Bryostatin-1 regimen. Patients not receiving memantine at baseline demonstrated stronger treatment signals.

Comprehensive follow-on analyses found that patients in the 20 µg treatment arm showed a sustained improvement at an exploratory endpoint week 15 (30 days after last dose at week 11). This follow-on analysis evaluated SIB scores and demonstrated persistent cognitive benefit. The secondary analysis found that non-memantine patients showed greater improvement.

Confirmatory Phase 2 Clinical Trial

On May 4, 2018, Neurotrope announced a confirmatory, 100 patient, double-blinded clinical trial for the safe, effective 20 µg dose protocol for advanced AD patients not taking memantine as background therapy to evaluate improvements in SIB scores with an increased number of patients. Neurotrope engaged Worldwide Clinical Trials, Inc. (“WCT”) to collaborate on the design and conduct of the trial, which began in April 2018. Pursuant to a Services Agreement with WCT dated as of May 4, 2018, WCT provided services relating to the trial. The trial was substantially completed as of December 31, 2019. We incurred approximately $7.6 million in total expenses primarily related to WCT and associated clinical operations vendors.

On September 9, 2019, Neurotrope issued a press release announcing that the confirmatory Phase 2 study of Bryostatin-1 in moderate to severe AD did not achieve statistical significance on the primary endpoint, which was change from baseline to week 13 in the SIB total score.

An average increase in SIB total score of 1.3 points and 2.1 points was observed for the Bryostatin-1 and placebo groups, respectively, at week 13. No statistically significant difference was observed between the Bryostatin -1 and placebo treatment groups.

The confirmatory Phase 2 multicenter trial was designed to assess the safety and efficacy of Bryostatin-1 as a treatment for cognitive deficits in patients with moderate to severe AD - defined as a MMSE-2 score of 4-15 - who are not currently taking memantine. Patients were randomized 1:1 to be treated receiving either Bryostatin-1 20µg or placebo across doses over 12 weeks. Patients on memantine were excluded unless they had been discontinued from memantine treatment for a 30-day washout period prior to study enrollment. The primary efficacy endpoint was the change in the SIB score between the baseline and week 13.

On January 22, 2020, Neurotrope announced the completion of an additional analysis, which examined moderately severe to severe AD patients treated with Bryostatin-1 without memantine. A post-hoc paired-data analysis was conducted to adjust for baseline imbalance in the moderate stratum (MMSE-2 10–15). A total of 65 patients had both baseline and week 13 values (32 Bryostatin-1; 33 placebo). Both treatment and placebo groups showed improvement from baseline, consistent with placebo effects observed in the overall study. Although there was a signal of Bryostatin-1’s benefit for the moderately severe stratum, the difference between the Bryostatin-1 and placebo treatment groups was not statistically significant (p=0.2727). Further trend‑analysis exploration suggested dose‑related improvement but did not change the overall conclusion of no statistically significant treatment effect.

Extended Confirmatory Phase 2 Clinical Trial

In connection with the additional analysis regarding the confirmatory Phase 2 clinical trial mentioned above, Synaptogenix also announced a $2.7 million award from the National Institutes of Health to support an additional Phase 2 clinical study focused on the moderate stratum for which we saw improvement in the 203 study.

On July 23, 2020, Synaptogenix executed a Services Agreement with WCT which covered services for Synaptogenix’s extended confirmatory Phase 2 Study. Pursuant to the terms of the Services Agreement, WCT provided services to enroll approximately 100 Phase 2 Study subjects. Synaptogenix initiated the first Phase 2 Study site during the third quarter of 2020 and enrollment was completed in March, 2022. During January and February, 2022, the Company executed a change order with WCT and another vendor to accelerate trial subject recruitment totaling approximately $2.4 million. The updated total estimated budget for the current trial services, including pass-through costs, was approximately $11.0 million. As noted below, Neurotrope was granted a $2.7 million NIH award resulting in an estimated net budgeted cost of the Phase 2 Study to Neurotrope of $9.3 million.

On December 16, 2022, the Company issued a press release announcing that an extended confirmatory Phase 2 study of Bryostatin-1 in moderate to severe AD (Study #204) did not achieve statistical significance on the primary endpoint, which was change from baseline to week 13 in the SIB total score obtained after completion of the second seven-dose course of treatment (week 28 of trial). An average increase in the SIB total score of 1.4 points and 0.6 points was observed for the Bryostatin-1 and placebo groups, respectively, at week 28. On March 7, 2023, the Company announced the results of its analysis of secondary endpoints and post hoc analysis from our Phase 2 study of Bryostatin-1. In the secondary endpoint analysis, changes from baseline at Weeks 9, 20, 24, 30, and 42 in the SIB (Severe Impairment Battery) total score were not statistically significant in the total patient population, and no pre-specified secondary endpoints were met with statistical significance in the low-to-moderately severe AD patient stratum. However, nearly all pre-specified secondary endpoints in the most advanced and severe AD (MMSE: 10-14) patient population, with baseline MMSE-2 (Mini-Mental State Examination, 2nd Edition) scores of 10-14, were achieved with statistical significance (p = <0.05, 2-tailed). Data also showed statistical significance in exploratory secondary endpoints for the MMSE-2 10-14 stratum, and post hoc analysis was positive. The Company is continuing to evaluate the data and determine next steps with the development of Bryostatin-1 for AD as well as for other potential indications.

Other Development Projects

To the extent resources permit, we may pursue development of selected technology platforms with indications related to the treatment of various disorders, including neurodegenerative disorders such as AD, based on our currently licensed technology and/or technologies available from third party licensors or collaborators.

Nemours Agreement

On September 5, 2018, we announced a collaboration with Nemours A.I. DuPont Hospital (“Nemours”), a premier U.S. children’s hospital, to initiate a clinical trial in children with Fragile X syndrome, a genetic disorder. In addition to the primary objective of safety and tolerability, measurements will be made of working memory, language and other functional aspects such as anxiety, repetitive behavior, executive functioning, and social behavior. On August 5, 2021, the Company announced its memorandum of understanding with Nemours to initiate a clinical trial using Bryostatin-1, under Orphan Drug Status, to treat Fragile X. The Company intends to provide the Bryostatin-1 and obtain the IND, and Nemours intends to provide the clinical site and attendant support for the trial. The Company and Nemours, jointly, will develop the trial protocol. The Company estimates its total trial and IND cost to be approximately $2.0 million. As of December 31, 2025, the Company has incurred cumulative expenses associated with this agreement of approximately $100,000.

The Company has filed an IND with the FDA. The FDA has placed the development of the IND on clinical hold pending completion of further analytics relating to drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. The Company is currently evaluating its plans to advance Fragile X development.

BryoLogyx Agreement

In connection with a supply agreement entered into with BryoLogyx Inc. (“BryoLogyx”) on June 9, 2020, we entered into a transfer agreement (the “Transfer Agreement”) with BryoLogyx. Pursuant to the terms of the Transfer Agreement, we agreed to assign and transfer to BryoLogyx all of our rights, title and interest in and to the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (“CRADA”) with the National Cancer Institute (“NCI”), under which Bryostatin-1’s ability to modulate CD22 in patients with relapsed/refractory CD22+ disease has been evaluated to date. Under the CRADA, the parties agreed to collaborate with the NCI’s Center for Cancer Research, Pediatric Oncology Branch (“POB”) to develop a Phase I clinical trial testing the safety and toxicity of Bryostatin-1 in children and young adults with CD22 + leukemia and B-cell lymphoma. The CRADA was transferred to BryoLogyx and we assigned to BryoLogyx our IND application for CD22 currently on file with the FDA. As consideration for the transfer of the CRADA and IND, BryoLogyx has agreed to pay to us 2% of the gross revenue received in connection with the sale of bryostatin products, up to an aggregate payment amount of $1 million.

Cleveland Clinic

On February 23, 2022, the Company announced its collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic to pursue possible treatments for Multiple Sclerosis (“MS”), and on July 19, 2023, the Company announced that it had entered into an agreement with the Cleveland Clinic to conduct a Phase 1 trial of Bryostatin-1 in MS. Pursuant to the agreement, the Cleveland Clinic was obligated to manage the clinical trial’s implementation, including the IND submission to the FDA which was filed during the fourth quarter of 2023 and future patient enrollment upon approval of the IND submission. The total estimated costs associated with this collaboration are approximately $2.0 million. As of December 31, 2025, the Company has paid or incurred costs with the Cleveland Clinic of approximately $528,000.

In December 2024, the Company announced via press release the termination of its agreement with the Cleveland Clinic due to the slow pace of enrollment in the Phase 1 clinical trial. The termination of the agreement was one of various actions authorized by the Board, designed to reduce cash burn rate.

Alzheimer’s Disease

It has been shown that during several years preceding the diagnosis of dementia associated with AD there can be gradual cognition decline, which at first may have rather benign characteristics. At this stage, known as mild cognitive impairment (“MCI”), 60% of these patients will convert to early AD. In MCI, there can already be significant loss of synapses (the junctions between nerve cells) and compromised release of the chemical messengers onto their post-synaptic targets. MCI, therefore, can transition into mild, moderate and, finally, severe stages of Alzheimer’s disease that are characterized by greater systemic loss of neurons and synapses in the brain tissue. Multiple failures in acetylcholine and glutamate neurotransmitter systems (neurotransmitters) may cause some of the symptoms of early AD, and thus these systems have become targets for pharmacologic intervention.

In MCI and early AD, the amyloid load in the brain may or may not increase while the symptoms of early AD begin to occur. Loss of neurons and synaptic networks can be accompanied by abnormal processing of β amyloid (“Aβ”) peptide, causing elevation of the soluble Aβ oligomers, eventually leading to the formation of Aβ plaques (protein deposits) in the brain.

The conventional amyloid cascade hypothesis holds that amyloid pathology leads to hyperphosphorylated tau proteins (a protein found in nerve cells) being deposited within neurons in the form of insoluble tangles, excitotoxicity (overstimulation of nerve cells by neurotransmitters), inflammation and finally synaptic depletion and neuronal death. Other hypotheses suggest that AD begins earlier with dysfunctional tau metabolism — independent of amyloid levels. However, these efforts have been largely unsuccessful.

We believe the current failures of therapies clearing formed amyloid plaques come from an incomplete view of the AD pathophysiologic process. In our view, amyloid plaques and the tau-based neurofibrillary tangles are pathologic hallmarks of AD, but not closely correlated with cognitive deficits. Synaptic loss at autopsy, on the other hand, has been consistently closely correlated with the degree of cognitive deterioration in clinical evaluations. We believe the appearance of these plaques and tangles is not necessarily linked to the death of neurons or synapses, and that the elimination of the plaques does not restore cognitive function as already demonstrated in extensive clinical testing with pathologic correlates. However, we believe that the soluble amyloid pre-plaque oligomers, through their toxicity to synapses and neurons, are important in the progression of the disease.

Furthermore, several comprehensive studies of autopsy brain samples from AD vs. control patients have demonstrated that the loss of the synapses is an early event in AD and usually precedes the loss of neurons. (Terry et al., 1991; Scheffe et al., 2006). These studies demonstrated that the rate of cognitive decline closely correlates with the loss of synapses, while that rate does not closely correlate with the number of amyloid plaques or neurofibrillary tangles (hyperphosphorylated tau). Based on these findings, the Company’s therapeutic strategy focuses on restoration of the synapses (or “synaptogenesis”) and the prevention of neuronal death. Bryostatin has been shown in extensive pre-clinical testing to accomplish both synaptic restoration and prevention of neuronal death.

In animal studies, the scientific team led by our former President and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Alkon, at CRE, found that PKC ε activation in neurons targets the loss of synapses and prevents the loss of neurons in the brains of animals with AD, and can delay or temporarily arrest other elements of the disease, e.g., by preventing: the reduction of synaptic growth factors, such as BDNF; the elevation of the toxic Aβ peptide; the appearance of plaques and tangles, and / or reversing the loss of cognitive function. In pre-clinical testing, Dr. Alkon and his teams directly demonstrated that bryostatin prevents the death of neurons (anti-apoptosis) and induces synaptogenesis by mobilizing synaptic growth factors such as BDNF, NGF, and IGF. At the same time, bryostatin appeared to prevent the formation of A Beta oligomers, prevent the deposition of amyloid plaques (extra-neuronal), prevent the formation of neurofibrillary tangles (intra-neuronal), and may restore cognitive function.

AD and the Potential Market for our Products

The Epidemic of AD

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, it has been estimated that over 50 million people worldwide had AD, or other forms of dementia, in 2025. The prevalence of AD is independent of race, ethnicity, geography, lifestyle and, to a large extent, genetics. The most common cause of developing AD is living a long life. In developing countries where the median age of death is less than 65 years old, AD is rarely recognized or diagnosed. In the United States in 2025, 6.9 million people are estimated to have AD, and over 73% of these people are older than 75 years of age.

Our approach, which involves the activation of the enzyme PKC ε, represents a novel mechanism in the armamentarium of potential AD drug therapies.

Potential Market for Our Products

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, all of the products introduced to date for the treatment of AD have yielded negative or marginal results with no long-term effect on the progression of AD and no improvement in the memory or cognitive performance of the patients receiving these therapies. With over 30 million people worldwide estimated to have had AD in 2025, there is significant commercial potential for a new therapeutic that is effective in delaying the progression of the disease.

We believe the markets for drugs or therapies to treat the underlying pathology of AD exist largely, but not exclusively, in the developed world and principally comprise the North American, European and Japanese markets.

Sales of the major drug therapies available only by prescription are approved for the symptomatic treatment of the cognitive aspects of AD, but have no meaningful effect on disease progression, causing only temporary improvement in cognitive decline. Despite their limited efficacy, this group of drugs had a collective, worldwide sales compounded annual growth rate from 2017 to 2021 of 6.5% in 2022 according to Future Markets Insights. Sales were approximately $2.8 billion and are projected to grow to approximately $6.8 billion by 2032, a compounded annual growth rate of 9.3%, according to Coherent Market Insights.

Our Proposed Products

Challenges in Treating AD

One of the challenges in treating AD is that its symptoms manifest only years after the disease process can be definitely diagnosed. Treatment strategies attempting to intervene once symptoms become more apparent are focused on stimulating the neurotransmitter activity of still healthy neurons, or removing the amyloid plaque deposited in the brain. Many drug development efforts to date that have targeted the removal of beta-amyloid or tau protein as their therapeutic mechanism of action have failed, and drugs approved for stimulating neurotransmitter activity offer short-lived, palliative results for AD patients. As such, these strategies have yielded negative or marginal results with no effect on the progression of AD and no improvement in memory or cognitive performance for treated patients.

Dying neurons and synapses have, to date, not been therapeutic targets for restoration, and many in the AD field currently believe that stemming the progression of the disease may only be possible with very early-stage intervention. The FDA has encouraged earlier-stage interventional treatments by recommending modified functional and cognitive clinical endpoints for early AD studies (“Drug Development of Early AD” published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM.org: The New England Journal of Medicine, March 15, 2013, page 1: Drug Development of Early AD, N. Kozauer, M.D., and Russell Katz, M.D.)

In contrast, we believe that our data from various preclinical animal models and compassionate use trials support that activation of PKC ε – BDNF pathway in central nervous system neurons may improve neuronal vitality and function in areas of the brain damaged by AD, potentially resulting in the improvement of memory and cognition.

In recent years, two therapeutic trials with monoclonal antibodies (aduhelm and lecanemab) have provided evidence of some slowing of the rate of decline for patients with mid cognitive impairment (MCI) and possibly very early AD. This slowing of the rate of decline (24 – 27%) occurred after 18 months of treatment with i.v. infusions with the antibodies.

Synaptogenesis

Studies of autopsy brains of AD versus control patients showed that deficient activity or low concentrations of PKC ε in aging subjects is one of the main causes of the neurodegeneration seen in AD. These deficiencies result in the loss of BDNF, an important synaptic growth factor as demonstrated by other pre-clinical and clinical research.

Activation of PKC ε has been achieved with drug prototypes that mimic the activity of diacylglycerol and phosphatidylserine, which are the natural binding targets for this enzyme. In addition, a variety of in vitro and in vivo animal models have demonstrated that these drug prototypes may be effective in restoring the structure and function of neuronal synapses. Our first clinical application of the PKC ε activators is focused on the treatment of AD, but a number of other neurodegenerative diseases may be amenable to similar treatment.

Treatment of AD by Stimulating Synaptic Regeneration and Prevention of Neuronal Death

Dr. Alkon’s team at CRE conducted research in synaptic regeneration and the prevention of neuronal death, outside the conventional wisdom that has dominated research efforts in the industry. The pathology of AD likely has multiple layers in its development, in addition to the presence of tau phosphorylated tangles and Aβ oligomers. However, once this process presents clinical manifestations of AD, restoring synaptic function thus far has not been effectively achieved by removing Aβ plaques with experimental

drug interventions. Once neurons undergo toxic changes with soluble Aβ oligomers, the loss of function to the patient has been irreversible.

CRE’s and our approach has been to restore general viability and hence synaptic function in still-functioning neurons by stimulating the regeneration and growth of the dendritic branches, spines, and pre-synaptic terminals on these neurons. Dendrites are the branched projections of a neuron that act to propagate the electrochemical stimulation received from other neural cells. The new growth of dendritic trees on the damaged neurons and the creation of a multiplicity of new synaptic connections, basically re-wiring the damaged neurons and restoring their function. Earlier therapeutic intervention with a PKC ε activator produces markedly improved outcomes in tests measuring restored animal cognitive function.

PKCε Activation Stimulates the Formation of New Synaptic Connections

The new synaptic connections formed from the damaged neurons revitalized by PKC ε in rats can be demonstrated in various behavioral models used to measure memory functions.

Treatment with Bryostatin-1, for 12 weeks in genetically modified rodents pre-disposed to develop an AD-type of pathology showed that Bryostatin-1 promoted the growth of new synapses and preserved the existing synapses. In addition, this drug reversed the decrease of PKC ε and the reciprocal increase of soluble amyloid. (Journal of Neuroscience 2011, 31 (2), 630, D. Alkon et al.)

In cell tissue cultures, there is a difference in morphology between neurons damaged by the application of ASPD (soluble oligomers of Aβ) and synapses rejuvenated by the application of Bryostatin-1. Treatment with Bryostatin-1, through PKC ε activation, stimulates the revitalization of neurons and the formation of new synaptic connections.

The Central Role of PKC ε in Maintaining Neuron Structure and Function

Upon activation, PKC ε migrates from the intraneuronal cytoplasm to the cell membrane, where it activates signal-regulating enzymes (specifically the m-RNA stabilizing protein, HUD, and downstream growth factors such as BDNF, NGF, IGF, etc.; MAP kinases Erk1/2; the BCl-2 apoptosis cascade; and NF- ϰϰϰϰβ), causing a series of changes leading to increased DNA transcription, synaptic maturation, a consequent increase in levels of growth factor proteins (such as nerve growth factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor), an inhibition of programmed cell-death and a reduction of β amyloid, and hyperphosphorylated tau.

This myriad of events is orchestrated by PKC ε and prompts a number of secondary events to occur in both the pre- and post-synaptic portions of the neuron. Cellular visualization of this effect shows an increase in the number of pre-synaptic vesicles in the neurons, an increase in pre-synaptic levels of PKC ε and an increase in the number of mushroom spines associated with individual synaptic boutons (knoblike enlargements at the end of a nerve fiber, where it forms a synapse). Their genesis in these neurons is responsible for the formation of new synapses during associative learning and memory, and for regeneration of synaptic networks in pre-clinical models of AD, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and Fragile X syndrome.

The central role of PKC ε activation in these dynamic events expands the amyloid and tau hypotheses for AD by including pathways to restore the synaptic networks lost during neurodegeneration and to prevent further loss as well as to prevent neuronal loss. This mechanistic framework offers new targets for therapeutic intervention which not only prevent the formation of tangles and plaque, but also prevents neuronal death, and promotes the induction of new, mature synaptic networks.

Decreased amyloid formation from PKC ε activation results from an increase in the rate of Aβ degradation by ECE (endothelin converting enzyme) neprilysin and IDE (insulin-degrading enzyme), and induction of α-secretase cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (the precursor molecule to Aβ) through phosphorylation of an enzyme known as Erk. In rodent models genetically predisposed to forming large amounts of amyloid deposits in their brains, PKC ε activation was found to interrupt the ongoing formation of amyloid, suggesting that this approach may delay the progression of AD.

The key to CRE’s innovation in this area has been in identifying highly potent drug prototypes that, at low concentrations, cause the specific and transient activation of PKC ε, without interacting with the other isozyme variants of PKC whose inactivation would negate the synaptogenic properties of the ε isoform.

Testing PKCε* Activation in Humans*

The basic drug mechanism invoking PKC ε activation for neuronal rejuvenation and synaptic regeneration has never been evaluated in humans for any drug class or therapeutic application. We believe that the pre- clinical and clinical research as described above is an ideal platform for testing this approach in human subjects.

We have licensed a body of biomedical research from CRE that is comprised of new methods and drug prototypes designed to stimulate synaptic restoration. For additional information, see “ —Intellectual Property—Technology License and Services Agreement.” We believe the commercial application of this technology has potential to impact AD as well as traumatic brain injury, ischemic stroke, post-traumatic stress syndrome and other degenerative learning disorders.

Drug Prototypes That Treat AD Through Regeneration

CRE has developed a new chemical family of polyunsaturated fatty acid (“PUFA”) analogs, which appear to be effective in the activation of PKC ε.

These molecules activate PKC ε by binding to two distinct active sites on the enzyme. The natural ligands that bind to these sites are diacylglycerol and phosphatidylserine. Bryostatin-1 acts as a mimetic (mimic) for diacylglycerol by binding to the diacylglycerol site and, similarly, the PUFA analogs act as mimetics for phosphatidylserine by binding to the phosphatidylserine site.

Collaborative Agreements

Stanford License Agreements

On May 12, 2014, the Company entered into a license agreement (the “Stanford Agreement”) with The Board of Trustees of The Leland Stanford Junior University (“Stanford”), pursuant to which Stanford has granted to the Company a revenue-bearing, world-wide right and exclusive license, with the right to grant sublicenses (on certain conditions), under certain patent rights and related technology for the use of bryostatin structural derivatives, known as “bryologs,” for use in the treatment of central nervous system disorders, lysosomal storage diseases, stroke, cardio protection and traumatic brain injury, for the life of the licensed patents. The Company is required to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop, manufacture and sell products (“Licensed Products”) in the Licensed Field of Use (as defined in the Stanford Agreement) during the term of the licensing agreement which expires upon the termination of the last valid claim of any licensed patent under this agreement. The Company is obligated to pay $10,000 annually as a license maintenance fee. In addition, the Company must meet specific product development milestones, and upon meeting such milestones, make specific milestone payments to Stanford. The Company must also pay Stanford royalties of 3% of net sales, if any, of Licensed Products (as defined in the Stanford Agreement) and milestone payments of up to $3.7 million dependent upon stage of product development. As of December 31, 2025, no royalties nor milestone payments have been required.

On January 19, 2017, the Company entered into a second license agreement with Stanford, pursuant to which Stanford has granted to the Company a revenue-bearing, world-wide right and exclusive license, with the right to grant sublicenses (on certain conditions), under certain patent rights and related technology for the use of “Bryostatin Compounds and Methods of Preparing the Same,” or synthesized bryostatin, for use in the treatment of neurological diseases, cognitive dysfunction and psychiatric disorders, for the life of the licensed patents. The Company paid Stanford $70,000 upon executing the license and is obligated to pay an additional $10,000 annually as a license maintenance fee. In addition, based upon certain milestones that include product development and commercialization, the Company will be obligated to pay up to an additional $2.1 million and between 1.5% and 4.5% royalty payments on certain revenues generated by the Company relating to the licensed technology. On November 9, 2021, the Company revised the existing licensing agreement with Stanford. The revisions extended all the required future product development and commercialization milestones. The Company is currently in full compliance with the revised agreement and is moving forward on its commitments. As of December 31, 2025, no royalties nor milestone payments have been earned or made.

The Company has advanced the development of synthetic bryostatin by demonstrating the equivalence of the synthetic to the natural bryostatin product. The estimated cost to initiate and produce sufficient quantities of the synthetic bryostatin drug product is approximately $1.5 million. The Company is evaluating production alternatives at this time.

Stanford retains the right, on behalf of itself and all other non-profit research institutions, to practice the licensed patents and use the licensed technology for any non-profit purpose, including sponsored research and collaborations. The license is also subject to Title 35, Sections 200-204, of the United States Code, which governs patent rights in inventions made with U.S. government assistance. Among other things, these provisions provide the United States government with nonexclusive rights in the licensed patents. They also impose the obligation that products based on the licensed patents sold or produced in the United States be “manufactured substantially in the United States.” As discussed previously, this license agreements has been amended by a mutual agreement in November, 2021.

Mt. Sinai License Agreement

On July 14, 2014, we entered into an Exclusive License Agreement (the “Mount Sinai Agreement”) with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (“Mount Sinai”). Pursuant to the Mount Sinai Agreement, Mount Sinai granted us (a) a revenue-bearing, world-wide right and exclusive license, with the right to grant sublicenses (on certain conditions), under Mount Sinai’s interest in certain joint patents held by the Company and Mount Sinai (the “Joint Patents”) as well as in certain results and data (the “Data Package”) and (b) a non-exclusive license, with the right to grant sublicenses on certain conditions, to certain technical information, both relating to the diagnostic, prophylactic or therapeutic use for treating diseases or disorders in humans relying on activation of Protein Kinase C Epsilon (“PKC ε”), which includes Niemann-Pick Disease (the “Mount Sinai Field of Use”). The Mount Sinai Agreement allowed us to research, discover, develop, make, have made, use, have used, import, lease, sell, have sold and offer certain products, processes or methods that are covered by valid claims of Mount Sinai’s interest in the Joint Patents or an Orphan Drug Designation Application covering the Data Package (“Mount Sinai Licensed Products”) in the Mount Sinai Field of Use (as such terms are defined in the Mount Sinai Agreement).

The Company was required to pay Mt. Sinai milestone payments of $2.0 million upon approval of a new drug application (“NDA”) in the United States and an additional $1.5 million for an NDA approval in the European Union or Japan. In addition, the Company was required to pay Mt. Sinai royalties on net sales of licensed product of 2.0% for up to $250 million of net sales and 3.0% of net sales over $250 million. Since inception, the Company has paid Mt. Sinai approximately $210,000 consisting of licensing fees of $135,000 plus development costs and patent fees of approximately $75,000. As of December 31, 2025, no royalties nor milestone payments have been required.

On February 24, 2026, the Company terminated the Mount Sinai Agreement, effective 60 days from date of termination. The termination does not relieve the parties from obligations under the Mount Sinai Agreement that accrued prior to the termination and certain other provisions expressly indicated to survive the termination.

Bryostatin-1

Our lead product candidate is Bryostatin-1. Bryostatin is a natural product isolated from a marine invertebrate organism, a bryozoan calledBugula neritina. Several total syntheses of this complex molecule have been achieved in recent years in various academic chemistry laboratories, and these approaches represent a possible alternative source of this drug. Importantly, we have an exclusive license for neurologic disorders to a new, accelerated synthesis of Bryostatin-1 recently developed at Stanford University by Dr. Paul Wender and his team. Bryostatin-1 is a PKC α and ε activator that was originally developed as a potential anticancer drug. According to Clinical Cancer Research, this drug candidate was previously evaluated in 63 clinical studies involving more than 1,400 patients at the NCI for the treatment of various forms of cancer. While having failed these studies as an experimental anti-cancer therapy, much useful information on the safety, pharmacodynamics and toxicity of the drug was obtained from these in-human trials. In general, Bryostatin-1 was considered to be “well-tolerated” in these anti-cancer trials.

It was discovered that at doses at lower levels than those used in these anticancer trials, bryostatin is a potent activator of PKC ε and may have efficacy in treating AD. As described above, activation of PKC ε has been shown to partially restore synaptic function in neurons damaged by AD in in vitro and in vivo animal models.

The NCI has entered into a material transfer agreement with CRE to provide the bryostatin required for pre-clinical research as well as the Phase 2 clinical trials planned by the Company. Our license agreement with CRE permits our access to new bryostatin clinical trial data and information held by the NCI, as well as past clinical, safety and toxicity data compiled by the NCI during the time this drug was being evaluated for its anticancer properties. See “—Intellectual Property—Technology License and Services Agreement” and “Item 1A. Risk Factors—We are partly dependent upon the NCI to supply bryostatin for our clinical trials.”

CRE previously conducted an exploratory evaluation of bryostatin on a compassionate use basis in AD patients who have an inherited form of AD, frequently called familial AD, under an FDA-approved study protocol. Familial AD results from one of four major mutations in the genome, and this mutation is passed on from generation to generation within a family that carries the defective gene. The tragic consequence of familial AD is that it strikes its victims at an early age, often while they are in their twenties. The aggressive progression of familial AD can render these patients in the terminal stages of AD in their late 30’s and early 40’s.

PUFA Analogs

Several other drug prototypes termed the “PUFA analogs” have been synthesized at CRE and evaluated for their PKC ε activating properties in models of AD. The PUFA analogs are not structurally related to bryostatin and activate PKC ε at a different site. We believe the PUFA analogs may represent a potential source for follow-on drug candidates. PKC ε activators from the PUFA family of drug prototypes have demonstrated neuroregeneration efficacy roughly equivalent to and, in some cases, potentially superior to that of bryostatin. If the PUFA analogs show adequate potency in preclinical models of AD, we may advance a drug prototype from this chemical family.

Other Potential Products

We may acquire, by license or otherwise, other development stage products that are consistent with our product portfolio objectives and commercialization strategy.

Intellectual Property

Technology License and Services Agreement

On February 4, 2015, we, CRE and NRV II, LLC entered into an Amended and Restated Technology License and Services Agreement (the “CRE License”), which further amended and restated the Technology License and Services Agreement dated as of October 31, 2012, as amended by Amendment No. 1 dated as of August 21, 2013.

Pursuant to the CRE License, we maintained our exclusive (except as described below), non-transferable (except pursuant to the CRE License’s assignment provision), world-wide, royalty-bearing right, with a right to sublicense (in accordance with the terms and conditions described below), under CRE’s and NRV II’s respective right, title and interest in and to certain patents and technology owned by CRE or licensed to NRV II, LLC by CRE as of or subsequent to October 31, 2012 to develop, use, manufacture, market, offer for sale, sell, distribute, import and export certain products or services for therapeutic applications for AD and other cognitive dysfunctions in humans or animals (the “Field of Use”). Additionally, the CRE License specifies that all patents that issue from a certain patent application, shall constitute licensed patents and all trade secrets, know-how and other confidential information claimed by such patents constitute licensed technology under the CRE License. Furthermore, on July 10, 2015, under the terms of the Statement of Work and Account Satisfaction Agreement dated February 4, 2015, our rights relating to an in vitro diagnostic test system reverted back to CRE and, accordingly, we no longer have any rights under the CRE License for diagnostic applications using the CRE patent portfolio or technology.

Notwithstanding the above license terms, CRE and its affiliates retain rights to use the licensed intellectual property in the Field of Use to engage in research and development and other non-commercial activities and to provide services to us or to perform other activities in connection with the CRE License.

Under the CRE License, we and CRE may not enter into sublicense agreements with third parties except with CRE’s prior written consent, which consent shall not be commercially unreasonably withheld. Furthermore, the CRE License dated February 4, 2015 revises the agreement that was entered into as of October 31, 2012 and amended on August 21, 2013, in that it provides that any intellectual property developed, conceived or created in connection with a sublicense agreement that we entered into with a third party pursuant to the terms of the CRE License will be licensed to CRE and its affiliates for any and all non-commercial purposes, on a worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive, irrevocable, non-terminable, fully paid-up, royalty-free, transferable basis, with the right to freely sublicense such intellectual property. Previously, the agreement had provided that such intellectual property would be assigned to CRE.

Under the CRE License, we and CRE will jointly own data, reports and information that is generated on or after February 28, 2013, pursuant to the license agreement dated October 31, 2012 and amended on August 21, 2013, by us, on behalf of us by a third party

or by CRE pursuant to a statement of work that the parties enter into pursuant to the CRE License, in each case to the extent not constituting or containing any data, reports or information generated prior to such date or by CRE not pursuant to a statement of work (the “Jointly Owned Data”). CRE has agreed not to use the Jointly Owned Data inside or outside the Field of Use for any commercial purpose during the term of the CRE License or following any expiration of the CRE License other than an expiration that is the result of a breach by us of the CRE License that caused any licensed patent to expire, become abandoned or be declared unenforceable or invalid or caused any licensed technology to enter the public domain (a “Natural Expiration”) provided, however, CRE may use the Jointly Owned Data inside or outside the Field of Use for any commercial purpose following any termination of the CRE License. Also, CRE granted us a license during the term and following any Natural Expiration, to use certain CRE data in the Field of Use for any commercial purposes falling within the scope of the license granted to us under the CRE License.

The CRE License further requires us to pay CRE (i) a fixed research fee equal to a pro rata amount of $1 million in the year during which we close on a Series B Preferred Stock financing resulting in proceeds of at least $25 million, (ii) a fixed research fee of $1 million per year for each of the five calendar years following the completion of such financing and (iii) an annual fixed research fee in an amount to be negotiated and agreed upon no later than 90 days prior to the end of the fifth calendar year following the completion of such financing to be paid with respect to each remaining calendar year during the term of the CRE License. This fixed research fee is not yet due as the Company has not completed a Series B Preferred Stock financing in excess of $25 million. The CRE License Agreement also requires the payment by us of royalties ranging between 2% and 5% of our revenues generated from the licensed patents and other intellectual property, dependent upon the percentage ownership that Neuroscience Research Ventures, Inc. (“NRV, Inc.”) holds in our company, which currently would be a royalty rate of 5% based on NRV, Inc.’s current ownership in us.

Pursuant to the terms of the November 12, 2015 amendment to the CRE License, we paid an aggregate of approximately $348,000 to CRE following the closings of the previous Series B private placement, which constituted an advance royalty payment to CRE and will be offset (with no interest) against the amount of future royalty obligations payable until such time that the amount of such future royalty obligations equals in full the amount of the advance royalty payments made, which shall be subtracted from the gross proceeds to determine the “Post-PA Fee Proceeds.”

On November 29, 2018, we entered into a Second Amendment to the CRE License, pursuant to which (i) we agreed to pay all outstanding invoices and accrued expenses associated with the licensed intellectual property and (ii) the parties agreed that CRE would no longer have the right, and we would have the sole and exclusive right, to apply for, file, prosecute, and maintain patents and applications for the licensed intellectual property.

Our Licensed Intellectual Property

We have licensed from CRE an extensive intellectual property portfolio that includes issued patents, pending patent applications and provisional patent applications, in the U.S. and elsewhere, which, we believe, together cover these key pharmaceutical markets. A method of use patent has been issued to CRE that covers the use of the PUFA family of molecules for the same therapeutic applications.

We believe the CRE License provides us rights to the patents and technologies required to develop our proposed products. The patents and technologies licensed to us pursuant to the CRE License include, without limitation, the following:

A number of CRE’s patent applications for treatment of neurological disorders have been under active prosecution for many years and have been the subject of multiple rejections for anticipation and/or obviousness based on prior art. There are no guarantees that CRE’s pending patent applications will issue into commercially meaningful patents. If these patent applications are not approved or successfully prosecuted, then we will attempt to seek other means of protecting its proprietary position including, but not limited to, trade secrets, proprietary formulations and methods, etc.

A substantial amount of in-human data exists that was generated by the NCI that involves the earlier evaluation of bryostatin as an anticancer agent. The NCI also holds the existing inventory of bryostatin suitable for use in humans. Our use of the substantial

data package generated by the NCI on bryostatin, as well as access to the clinical supply of this substance, is permitted under a material transfer agreement entered into and between the NCI and CRE.

There are no known patent conflicts or freedom to operate issues at this time which could encumber our ability to commercialize the PKC ε activators for the treatment of cognition and memory disorders. However, we cannot provide any assurance that such conflicts will not arise in the future. For more information, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors—Our commercial success will depend, in part, on our ability, and the ability of our licensors, to obtain and maintain patent protection. Our licensors’ failure to obtain and maintain patent protection for our products may have a material adverse effect on our business.” and “—Our licensed patented technologies may infringe on other patents, which may expose us to costly litigation.”

We also have the right to re-license certain patents and patent applications in certain jurisdictions that we had licensed under the CRE License but had previously elected to relinquish. In the event that we decide to re-license any of such patents and/or patent applications, then we are required to reimburse CRE for all of the attorneys’ fees, translation costs, filing fees, maintenance fees, and other costs and expenses related to such patents and/or patent applications that have been incurred since we elected to relinquish them under the CRE License.

Additional Intellectual Property

In addition, we have filed, and own, multiple patent families directed to methods of treatment and formulations with PKC activators, including bryostatin. We are, or will be, seeking patent protection for these inventions in numerous countries and regions including, among others, The United States, Europe, Canada, China and Japan.

While we seek broad coverage under our existing patent applications, there is always a risk that an alteration to the product or process may provide sufficient basis for a competitor to avoid infringement claims. In addition, the coverage claimed in a patent application can be significantly reduced before a patent is issued and courts can reinterpret patent scope after issuance. Moreover, many jurisdictions including the United States permit third parties to challenge issued patents in administrative proceedings, which may result in further narrowing or even cancellation of patent claims. Moreover, we cannot provide any assurances that any patents will be issued from our pending or any future applications or that any potentially issued patents will adequately protect our intellectual property.

Individual patents extend for varying periods depending on the date of filing of the patent application or the date of patent issuance and the legal term of patents in the countries in which they are obtained. Generally, utility patents issued for applications filed in the United States are granted a term of 20 years from the earliest effective U.S. filing date of a non-provisional patent application. In addition, in certain instances, a patent term can be extended to recapture a portion of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), delay in issuing the patent as well as a portion of the term effectively lost as a result of the FDA regulatory review period. However, as to the FDA component, the restoration period cannot be longer than five years and the total patent term including the restoration period must not exceed 14 years following FDA approval. The duration of foreign patents varies in accordance with provisions of applicable local law, but typically is also 20 years from the earliest effective filing date. The actual protection afforded by a patent may vary on a product by product basis, by country and can depend upon many factors, including the type of patent, the scope of its coverage, the availability of regulatory-related extensions, and the availability of legal remedies in a particular country and the validity and enforceability of the patent.

We also rely on trademarks, trade secrets, copyright protection, know-how, continuing technological innovation and potential in-licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our proprietary position. For example, we rely upon trade secrets and know-how and continuing technological innovation to develop and maintain our competitive position. We seek to protect our proprietary information, in part, using confidentiality agreements or invention assignment agreements with our employees, contract research organizations, consultants, and any potential commercial partners. These agreements are designed to protect our proprietary information and, in the case of the invention assignment agreements, to grant us ownership of technologies that are developed.

Governmental Regulation and Product Approval

The manufacturing and marketing of our potential products and our ongoing research and development activities are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and comparable regulatory agencies in state and local jurisdictions and in foreign countries.

United States Regulation of Drugs

In the United States, the FDA approves and regulates drugs under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”), and implementing regulations. Before any drug product can be marketed in the United States, it must receive approval from the FDA. To receive this approval, any drug we develop must undergo rigorous preclinical testing and clinical trials that demonstrate the product candidate’s safety and effectiveness for each indicated use. The FDA’s extensive regulatory process controls, among other things, the development, testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, record keeping, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale, and distribution of pharmaceutical products. The failure to comply with requirements under the FDCA and other applicable laws at any time during the product development process, approval process or after approval may subject an applicant and/or sponsor to a variety of administrative or judicial sanctions, including refusal by the FDA to approve pending applications, withdrawal of an approval, imposition of a clinical hold, issuance of warning letters and other types of enforcement letters, product recalls, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, refusals of government contracts, restitution, disgorgement of profits or civil or criminal investigations and penalties brought by the FDA and the Department of Justice or other governmental entities.

In general, before any new pharmaceutical product can be marketed in the United States, the process typically required by the FDA includes:

Preclinical Testing

In the United States, drug candidates undergo rigorous preclinical, or nonclinical, testing until adequate evidence of safety and efficacy is established, prior to clinical testing in human subjects. These nonclinical studies generally evaluate the mechanism of action and pharmacology of the product and assess the potential safety and efficacy of the product. Tested compounds must be produced according to applicable cGMP requirements and preclinical safety tests must be conducted in compliance with FDA and international regulations regarding GLP. The Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2023, signed into law on December 29, 2022, (P.L. 117-328) amended the FDCA and the Public Health Service Act to specify that nonclinical testing for drugs and biologics may, but is not required to, include in vivo animal testing. According to the amended language, a sponsor may fulfill nonclinical testing requirements by completing various in vitro assays (e.g., cell-based assays, organ chips, or micro physiological systems), in silico studies (i.e., computer modeling), other human or nonhuman biology-based tests (e.g., bioprinting), or in vivo animal tests.

The results of the preclinical tests, together with manufacturing information and analytical data, are generally submitted to the FDA as part of an IND, which must become effective before human clinical trials may commence. The IND will automatically become effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless before that time the FDA issues a notice expressly authorizing the proposed trial to proceed or requests an extension or raises concerns about the conduct of the clinical trials as outlined in the application. If the FDA has any concerns, the sponsor of the IND and the FDA must resolve the concerns before clinical trials can begin. Regulatory authorities may require additional preclinical data before allowing the clinical trials to commence or proceed from one phase to another and could demand that the clinical trials be discontinued or suspended at any time if there are significant safety issues. Some long-term nonclinical testing, such as animal tests of reproductive adverse events and carcinogenicity, may continue after the IND is submitted.

Furthermore, an independent IRB for each medical center proposing to participate in the conduct of the clinical trial must review and approve the clinical protocol and patient informed consent form before commencement of the clinical trial at the respective medical center. An IRB must operate in compliance with FDA regulations.

Clinical Trials

Human clinical trials are typically conducted in four sequential phases, which may overlap or be combined:

Information about certain clinical trials must be submitted within specific timeframes to the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”) for public dissemination on its ClinicalTrials.gov data registry. Information related to the product, patient population, phase of investigation, study sites and other aspects of the clinical trial is made public as part of the registration of the clinical trial. Sponsors are also obligated to disclose the results of their clinical trials after completion. Disclosure of the results of these trials can be delayed in some cases for up to two years after the date of completion of the trial. Competitors may use this publicly available information to gain knowledge regarding the progress of development programs. Failure to timely register a covered clinical study or to submit study results as provided for in the law can give rise to civil monetary penalties and also prevent the non-compliant party from receiving future grant

funds from the federal government. NIH’s Final Rule on ClinicalTrials.gov registration and reporting requirements became effective in 2017, and both NIH and FDA have brought enforcement actions against non-compliant clinical trial sponsors.

Progress reports detailing the results of the clinical trials must be submitted at least annually to the FDA and more frequently if serious adverse events occur. In addition, IND safety reports must be submitted to the FDA for any of the following: serious and unexpected suspected adverse reactions; findings from other studies or animal orin vitro testing that suggest a significant risk in humans exposed to the drug; and any clinically important increase in the case of a serious suspected adverse reaction over that listed in the protocol or investigator brochure. During all clinical trials, physicians will monitor patients to determine effectiveness of the drug candidate and to observe and report any adverse reactions or safety risks that may result from use of the drug candidate. The FDA or the sponsor may suspend or terminate a clinical trial at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the research subjects are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk. Similarly, an IRB can suspend or terminate approval of a clinical trial at its institution, or an institution it represents, if the clinical trial is not being conducted in accordance with the GCP or other IRB requirements or if the drug has been associated with unexpected serious harm to patients. The FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical sites to assure compliance with GCP and the integrity of the clinical data submitted.

Review of the NDA by FDA

The data from the clinical trials, together with preclinical data and other supporting information that establishes a drug candidate’s profile, are submitted to the FDA in the form of an NDA or NDA supplement (for approval of a new indication if the product candidate is already approved for another indication). Under federal law, the submission of most NDAs is additionally subject to a substantial application user fee, and the sponsor of an approved NDA is subject to an annual program fee. These fees are adjusted, and typically increase, annually. Certain exceptions and waivers are available for some of these fees, such as an exception from the application fee for drugs with orphan designation and a waiver for certain small businesses.

Under applicable laws and FDA regulations, FDA performs an administrative review on each submitted NDA within 45 to 60 days following submission. If deemed complete at the end of this preliminary review, the FDA will “file” the NDA, thereby triggering substantive review of the application. The FDA can refuse to file any NDA that it deems incomplete or not properly reviewable. In this event, the NDA must be resubmitted with the additional information requested by the agency, and the resubmitted application is also subject to preliminary review prior to filing. The FDA has established internal substantive review goals of six months from the filing date for priority NDAs (for drugs addressing serious or life-threatening conditions for which there is an unmet medical need) and 10 months from the filing date for regular NDAs. The FDA, however, is not legally required to complete its review within these periods, and the review process is often significantly extended by FDA requests for additional information or clarification and a sponsor’s process to respond to such inquiries.

The FDA is required to refer an application for a novel drug to an advisory committee or explain why such referral was not made. Typically, an advisory committee is a panel of independent experts, including clinicians and other scientific experts, that reviews, evaluates and provides a recommendation as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions. The FDA is not bound by the recommendations of an advisory committee, but it considers such recommendations carefully when making decisions. Before approving an NDA, the FDA typically will inspect the facility or facilities where the product is or will be manufactured. These pre-approval inspections may cover all facilities associated with an NDA submission, including drug component manufacturing (e.g., active pharmaceutical ingredients) facilities, finished drug product manufacturing facilities and control testing laboratories. The FDA will not approve an application unless it determines that the manufacturing processes and facilities comply with cGMP requirements and are adequate to assure consistent production of the product within required specifications. Additionally, before approving an NDA, the FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical sites to assure compliance with GCP.

Under the Pediatric Research Equity Act (“PREA”) as amended, an NDA or supplement to an NDA must contain data that are adequate to assess the safety and efficacy of the product candidate for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric populations and to support dosing and administration for each pediatric population for which the product is safe and effective. The FDA may grant deferrals for submission of pediatric data or full or partial waivers. The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, or the FDASIA, enacted in 2012, made permanent PREA to require a sponsor who is planning to submit a marketing application for a product that includes a new active ingredient, new indication, new dosage form, new dosing regimen or new route of administration to submit an initial Pediatric Study Plan, or PSP, within sixty days of an end-of-Phase 2 meeting or, if there is no such meeting, as early as practicable before the initiation of the Phase 3 or Phase 2/3 clinical trial. The initial PSP must include an outline of the pediatric study or studies that the sponsor plans to conduct, including trial objectives and design, age groups, relevant endpoints and statistical approach,

or a justification for not including such detailed information, and any request for a deferral of pediatric assessments or a full or partial waiver of the requirement to provide data from pediatric studies along with supporting information. The FDA and the sponsor must reach an agreement on the PSP. A sponsor can submit amendments to an agreed upon initial PSP at any time if changes to the pediatric plan need to be considered based on data collected from pre-clinical studies, early phase clinical trials or other clinical development programs.

Data Review and Approval

Substantial financial resources are necessary to fund the research, clinical trials and related activities necessary to satisfy FDA requirements or similar requirements of state, local and foreign regulatory agencies. It normally takes many years to satisfy these various regulatory requirements, assuming they are satisfied. Information generated in this process is susceptible to varying interpretations that could delay, limit, or prevent regulatory approval at any stage of the process. Accordingly, the actual time and expense required to bring a product to market may vary substantially. We cannot assure you that we will submit applications for required authorizations to manufacture and/or market potential products or that any such application will be reviewed and approved by the appropriate regulatory authorities in a timely manner, if at all. Data obtained from clinical activities is not always conclusive and may be susceptible to varying interpretations, which could delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. Success in early-stage clinical trials does not ensure success in later stage clinical trials. Even if a product candidate receives regulatory approval, the approval may be significantly limited to specific disease states, patient populations and dosages, or have conditions placed on them that restrict the commercial applications, advertising, promotion or distribution of these products.

The FDA’s Decision on an NDA

Based on the FDA’s evaluation of an NDA and accompanying information, including the results of the inspection of the manufacturing facilities, the FDA may issue an approval letter or a complete response letter. A complete response letter generally outlines the deficiencies in the submission and may require substantial additional testing or information in order for the FDA to reconsider the application. If and when those deficiencies have been addressed to the FDA’s satisfaction in a resubmission of an NDA, the FDA will issue an approval letter. The FDA has committed to reviewing such resubmissions in two or six months depending on the type of information included. Even with submission of this additional information, the FDA ultimately may decide that the application does not satisfy the regulatory criteria for approval. In September 2025, the FDA began publishing complete response letters soon after issuing them to the respective sponsors, breaking with long standing agency tradition of publishing complete response letters with approval documentation after the product is approved.

An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the drug with the accompanying approved prescribing information for specific indications. If the FDA approves a product, it may limit the approved indications for use for the product; require that contraindications, warnings or precautions be included in the product labeling; require that post-approval studies, including Phase 4 clinical trials, be conducted to further assess the drug’s safety after approval; require testing and surveillance programs to monitor the product after commercialization; or impose other conditions, including distribution restrictions or other risk management mechanisms. In addition, as a condition of approval, the FDA may require an applicant to develop a REMS. REMS use risk minimization strategies beyond the professional labeling to ensure that the benefits of the product outweigh the potential risks. To determine whether a REMS is needed, the FDA will consider the size of the population likely to use the product, seriousness of the disease, expected benefit of the product, expected duration of treatment, seriousness of known or potential adverse events and whether the product is a new molecular entity. REMS can include medication guides, physician communication plans for healthcare professionals and elements to assure safe use, or ETASU. ETASU may include, but are not limited to, special training or certification for prescribing or dispensing, dispensing only under certain circumstances, special monitoring and use of patient registries. The FDA determines the requirement for a REMS, as well as the specific REMS provisions, on a case-by-case basis. If the FDA concludes a REMS is needed, the sponsor of the NDA must submit a proposed REMS. The FDA will not approve the NDA without an approved REMS, if required. The FDA may require a REMS before approval or post-approval if it becomes aware of a serious risk associated with use of the product. The requirement for a REMS can materially affect the potential market and profitability of a product. Once granted, product approvals may be withdrawn if compliance with regulatory requirements and commitments is not maintained or problems are identified following initial marketing.

The FDA may prevent or limit further marketing of a product based on the results of post-market studies or surveillance programs. After approval, many types of changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications, manufacturing changes and additional labeling claims, are subject to further testing requirements and FDA review and approval.

Post-Approval Requirements

Drugs manufactured or distributed pursuant to FDA approvals are subject to pervasive and continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, requirements relating to recordkeeping, periodic reporting, product sampling and distribution, advertising and promotion, which include restrictions on promoting drugs for unapproved uses or patient populations (i.e., “off-label use”), and reporting of adverse experiences with the product. After approval, most changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications or other labeling claims, are subject to prior FDA review and approval. There also are continuing annual user fee requirements for any marketed products, as well as new application fees for supplemental applications with clinical data.

In addition, drug manufacturers and other entities involved in the manufacture and distribution of approved drugs are required to register their establishments with the FDA and state agencies, and are subject to periodic prescheduled or unannounced inspections by the FDA and these state agencies for compliance with cGMP requirements. Changes to the manufacturing process are strictly regulated and often require prior FDA approval before being implemented. FDA regulations also require investigation and correction of any deviations from cGMP and impose reporting and documentation requirements upon the sponsor and any third-party manufacturers that the sponsor may decide to use. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain cGMP compliance.

Once an approval is granted, the FDA may withdraw the approval if compliance with regulatory requirements and standards is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the market. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in revisions to the approved labeling to add new safety information; imposition of post-market studies or clinical trials to assess new safety risks; or imposition of distribution or other restrictions under a REMS program. Other potential consequences include, among other things:

The FDA strictly regulates marketing, labeling, advertising and promotion of products that are placed on the market. Drugs may be promoted only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved label. Although physicians may prescribe legally available products for off-label uses, manufacturers may not market or promote such uses. The FDA and other agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses, and a company found to have improperly promoted off-label uses may be subject to significant liability.

In addition, the distribution of prescription pharmaceutical products is subject to the Prescription Drug Marketing Act, or PDMA, which regulates the distribution of drugs and drug samples at the federal level, and sets minimum standards for the registration and regulation of drug distributors by the states. Both the PDMA and state laws limit the distribution of prescription pharmaceutical product samples and impose requirements to ensure accountability in distribution. In addition, the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, or DSCA, regulates the distribution and tracing of prescription drugs and prescription drug samples at the federal level, and set minimum standards for the regulation of drug distributors by the states. The DSCSA mandates resource-intensive obligations for pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and dispensers. From time to time, new legislation and regulations may be implemented that could significantly change the statutory provisions governing the approval, manufacturing and marketing of products regulated by the

FDA. It is impossible to predict whether further legislative or regulatory changes will be enacted, or FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations changed or what the impact of such changes, if any, may be.

The Hatch-Waxman Act and Marketing Exclusivity

In 1984, with passage of the Hatch-Waxman Amendments to the FDCA, Congress authorized the FDA to approve generic drugs that are the same as drugs previously approved by the FDA under the NDA provisions of the statute and also enacted Section 505(b)(2) of the FDCA. To obtain approval of a generic drug, an applicant must submit an abbreviated new drug application, or ANDA, to the agency. In support of such applications, a generic manufacturer may rely on the preclinical and clinical testing conducted for a drug product previously approved under an NDA, known as the reference listed drug, or RLD. Specifically, in order for an ANDA to be approved, the FDA must find that the generic version is identical to the RLD with respect to the active ingredients, the route of administration, the dosage form, and the strength of the drug. At the same time, the FDA must also determine that the generic drug is “bioequivalent” to the innovator drug.

Upon approval of an ANDA, the FDA indicates whether the generic product is “therapeutically equivalent” to the RLD in its publication “Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations,” also referred to as the “Orange Book.” Physicians and pharmacists consider a therapeutic equivalent generic drug to be fully substitutable for the RLD. In addition, by operation of certain state laws and numerous health insurance programs, the FDA’s designation of therapeutic equivalence often results in substitution of the generic drug without the knowledge or consent of either the prescribing physician or patient.

In contrast, Section 505(b)(2) permits the filing of an NDA where at least some of the information required for approval comes from studies not conducted by or for the applicant and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference. A Section 505(b)(2) applicant may eliminate the need to conduct certain preclinical or clinical studies, if it can establish that reliance on studies conducted for a previously-approved product is scientifically appropriate. Unlike the ANDA pathway used by developers of bioequivalent versions of innovator drugs, which does not allow applicants to submit new clinical data other than bioavailability or bioequivalence data, the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway does not preclude the possibility that a follow-on applicant would need to conduct additional clinical trials or nonclinical studies; for example, they may be seeking approval to market a previously approved drug for new indications or for a new patient population that would require new clinical data to demonstrate safety or effectiveness. The FDA may then approve the new product for all or some of the label indications for which the RLD has been approved, or for any new indication sought by the Section 505(b)(2) applicant, as applicable.

In addition, under the Hatch-Waxman amendments, the FDA may not approve an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA until any applicable period of non-patent exclusivity for the RLD has expired. These market exclusivity provisions under the FDCA also can delay the submission or the approval of certain applications. The FDCA provides a period of five years of non-patent data exclusivity for a new drug containing a new chemical entity. A drug is a new chemical entity if the FDA has not previously approved any other new drug containing the same active moiety, which is the molecule or ion responsible for the action of the drug substance. In cases where such exclusivity has been granted, an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA may not be filed with the FDA until the expiration of five years unless the submission is accompanied by a certification of patent invalidity or non-infringement, in which case the applicant may submit its application four years following the original product approval.

The FDCA also provides three years of data exclusivity for a NDA, 505(b)(2) NDA or supplement to an existing NDA if new clinical investigations, other than bioavailability studies, that were conducted or sponsored by the applicant are deemed by the FDA to be essential to the approval of the application, for example, new indications, dosages or strengths of an existing drug. This three-year exclusivity covers only the conditions of use associated with the new clinical investigations and does not prohibit the FDA from approving follow-on applications for drugs containing the original active agent. If there is no listed patent in the Orange Book, there may not be a certification of patent invalidity or non-infringement, and, thus, no ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA may be filed before the expiration of an applicable non-patent exclusivity period. Five-year and three-year exclusivity also will not delay the submission or approval of a traditional NDA filed under Section 505(b)(1) of the FDCA. However, an applicant submitting a traditional NDA would be required to either conduct or obtain a right of reference to all of the preclinical studies and adequate and well-controlled clinical trials necessary to demonstrate safety and effectiveness.

Patent Term Restoration and Extension

A patent claiming a new drug product may be eligible for a limited patent term extension, also known as patent term restoration, under the Hatch-Waxman Act, which permits a patent restoration of up to five years for patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review. Patent term extension is generally available only for drug products whose active ingredient has not previously been approved by the FDA. The restoration period granted is typically one-half the time between the effective date of an IND and the submission date of an NDA, plus the time between the submission date of an NDA and the ultimate approval date. Patent term extension cannot be used to extend the remaining term of a patent past a total of 14 years from the product’s approval date. Only one patent applicable to an approved drug product is eligible for the extension, and the application for the extension must be submitted prior to the expiration of the patent in question. A patent that covers multiple drugs for which approval is sought can only be extended in connection with one of the approvals. The United States PTO reviews and approves the application for any patent term extension in consultation with the FDA.

Pediatric Exclusivity and Pediatric Use

The Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act (“BPCA”) provides NDA holders a six-month period of non-patent marketing exclusivity attached to any other exclusivity listed with FDA—patent or non-patent—for a drug if certain conditions are met. Conditions for pediatric exclusivity include a determination by the FDA that information relating to the use of a new drug in the pediatric population may produce health benefits in that population; a written request by the FDA for pediatric studies; and agreement by the applicant to perform the requested studies and the submission to the FDA, completion of the studies in accordance with the written request, and the acceptance by the FDA, of the reports of the requested studies within the statutory timeframe. The data do not need to show the product to be effective in the pediatric population studied; rather, if the clinical trial is deemed to fairly respond to the FDA’s request, the additional protection is granted. If reports of requested pediatric studies are submitted to and accepted by the FDA within the statutory time limits, whatever statutory or regulatory periods of exclusivity or patent protection cover the product are extended by six months. This is not a patent term extension, but it effectively extends the regulatory period during which the FDA cannot approve another application. The issuance of a written request does not require the sponsor to undertake the described studies.

Rest of World Government Regulation

For countries outside of the United States, the requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary from country to country. In all cases, again, the clinical trials are conducted in accordance with GCP and the other applicable regulatory requirements.

If we fail to comply with applicable foreign regulatory requirements, we may be subject to, among other things, fines, suspension of clinical trials, suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals, product recalls, seizure of products, operating restrictions, and criminal prosecution.

Other Government Regulation

Our research and development activities use biological and hazardous materials that are dangerous to human health and safety or the environment. We are subject to a variety of federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the use, generation, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of these materials and wastes resulting from these materials. We are also subject to regulation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and federal and state environmental protection agencies and to regulation under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

If our product candidates are approved in the United States, we will have to comply with various U.S. federal and state laws, rules and regulations pertaining to healthcare fraud and abuse, including anti-kickback laws and physician self-referral laws, rules and regulations. Violations of the fraud and abuse laws are punishable by criminal and civil sanctions, including, in some instances, exclusion from participation in federal and state healthcare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. These laws include the following:

Medicare and Medicaid. A person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the AKS or specific intent to violate it to have committed a violation. In addition, the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the AKS constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the FCA or federal civil money penalties statute;

Sanctions for violating these federal laws include criminal and civil penalties that range from punitive sanctions, damage assessments, money penalties, imprisonment, denial of Medicare and Medicaid payments, or exclusion from participation in federal programs, or both. These laws also impose an affirmative duty on those receiving Medicare or Medicaid funding to ensure that they do not employ or contract with persons excluded from participation in the Medicare and other government healthcare programs. Additionally, many states have laws and regulations that contain prohibitions that are similar to, and in many cases broader than, these federal laws and once our products are marketed commercially, we will have to comply with these various state laws as well.

Some state laws require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government in addition to requiring drug manufacturers to report information related to payments to physicians and other healthcare providers or marketing expenditures.

State and foreign laws also govern the privacy and security of health information in some circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts. We also may be subject to, or may in the future become subject to, U.S. federal and state, and foreign laws and regulations imposing obligations on how we collect, use, disclose, store and process personal information. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could result in liability or reputational harm and could harm our business. Ensuring compliance with such laws could also impair our efforts to maintain and expand our customer base and thereby decrease our future revenues.

Healthcare Reform

In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and continue to be, several legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system that could prevent or delay marketing approval of product and therapeutic candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities, and affect the ability to profitably sell product and therapeutic candidates that obtain marketing approval. The FDA’s and other regulatory authorities’ policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product and therapeutic candidates. In addition, future legislative and regulatory proposals or Executive Branch actions may materially impact the ability of the FDA and other regulatory agencies to operate as they have historically operated. We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted or executive orders imposed, or whether any of the FDA’s regulations, guidances or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the agency and its scientific review staff, if any, may be. For example, negotiations on the next FDA user fee reauthorization package began in mid-2025, and the resulting agreement is expected to be sent to Congress in early 2027 for purposes of initiating the legislative process. Reauthorization of the prescription drug user fee program must be finalized by Congress by the end of September 2027 in order to avoid a disruption in FDA’s review goals for NDAs and other activities supported by user fees assessed against industry. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we otherwise may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

A primary trend in the U.S. healthcare industry and elsewhere is cost containment. Government authorities and other third-party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular medical products and services, implementing reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding and applying new payment methodologies. In recent years, the U.S. Congress has considered reductions in Medicare reimbursement levels for medicines and biologics administered by physicians. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, the agency that administers the Medicare and Medicaid programs, also has authority to revise reimbursement rates and to implement coverage restrictions for most drugs and biologics. Cost reduction initiatives and changes in coverage implemented through legislation or regulation could decrease utilization of and reimbursement for any approved products we may market in the future. While Medicare regulations apply only to pharmaceutical benefits for Medicare beneficiaries, private payors often follow Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own reimbursement rates. Therefore, any reduction in reimbursement that results from federal legislation or regulation may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors.

Furthermore, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act, was enacted in March 2010, (collectively the “ACA”) and, among other things, increased the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by most manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program; introduced a new methodology by which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected; extended the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program to utilization of prescriptions of individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care plans; imposed mandatory discounts for certain Medicare Part D beneficiaries as a condition for manufacturers’ outpatient drugs coverage under Medicare Part D; and established a Center for Medicare Innovation at the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, to test innovative payment and service delivery models to lower Medicare and Medicaid spending.

Legislative and regulatory changes under the ACA remain possible, although it is unknown what form any such changes or any law would take, and how or whether it may affect the biopharmaceutical industry as a whole or our business in the future. We expect that changes or additions to the ACA, the Medicare and Medicaid programs and changes stemming from other healthcare reform

measures, especially with regard to healthcare access, financing or other legislation in individual states, could have a material adverse effect on the healthcare industry in the United States.

In addition, there has been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drug products. Notably, the CREATES Act, which became law on December 20, 2019 was enacted to address the concern articulated by both the FDA and industry stakeholders that some brand manufacturers had improperly restricted the distribution of their products, including by invoking the existence of a REMS for certain products, to deny generic and biosimilar product developers access to samples of brand products. Because generic and biosimilar product developers need such samples to conduct certain comparative testing required by the FDA, some attributed the inability to timely obtain samples as a cause of delay in the entry of generic and biosimilar products. To remedy this concern, the CREATES Act established a private cause of action that permits a generic or biosimilar product developer to sue the brand manufacturer to compel it to furnish the necessary samples on “commercially reasonable, market-based terms.” Although lawsuits have been filed under the CREATES Act since its enactment, those lawsuits have settled privately; therefore, to date no federal court has reviewed or opined on the statutory language and there continues to be uncertainty regarding the scope and application of the law.

In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, or the IRA, was signed into law. Among other things, the IRA has multiple provisions that may impact the prices of drug products that are both sold into the Medicare program and throughout the United States. For example, a manufacturer of a drug or biological product covered by Medicare Parts B or D must pay a rebate to the federal government if the drug product’s price increases faster than the rate of inflation. This calculation is made on a product-by-product basis and the amount of the rebate owed to the federal government is directly dependent on the volume of a drug product that is paid for by Medicare Parts B or D. Additionally, CMS will negotiate drug prices annually for a select number of single-source Part D drugs. CMS will also negotiate drug prices for a select number of Part B drugs starting for payment year 2028. If a drug product is selected by CMS for negotiation, it is expected that the revenue generated from such drug will decrease. CMS has begun to implement these new authorities announcing the first round of negotiated prices for the first 10 drug products in August 2024, which will become appliable for payment year 2026. The second round of negotiated prices for 15 drug products was announced in November 2025. However, the IRA’s impact on the pharmaceutical industry in the United States remains uncertain, in part because multiple large pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders (e.g., the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) have initiated federal lawsuits against CMS arguing the program is unconstitutional for a variety of reasons, among other complaints. Those lawsuits are currently ongoing.

Separately, the Trump Administration announced the creation of a government website called TrumpRx, which will allow consumers to purchase certain drugs at reduced prices as negotiated between the drug manufacturers and the administration. As of December 2025, the Trump Administration secured deals with five major drug manufacturers to offer certain drugs at most-favored-nation prices.

At the state level, individual states are increasingly aggressive in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. For example, in recent years, several states have formed prescription drug affordability boards (“PDABs”). Much like the IRA’s drug price negotiation program, these PDABs have attempted to implement upper payment limits (“UPLs”) on drugs sold in their respective states in both public and commercial health plans. In August 2023, Colorado’s PDAB announced a list of five prescription drugs that would undergo an affordability review. The effects of these efforts remain uncertain pending the outcomes of several federal lawsuits challenging state authority to regulate prescription drug payment limits. Furthermore, in December 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously that federal law does not preempt the states’ ability to regulate pharmaceutical benefit managers (“PBMs”) and other members of the healthcare and pharmaceutical supply chain, an important decision that may lead to further and more aggressive efforts by states in this area. The Federal Trade Commission in mid-2022 also launched sweeping investigations into the practices of the PBM industry that could lead to additional federal and state legislative or regulatory proposals targeting such entities’ operations, pharmacy networks, or financial arrangements. Significant efforts to change the PBM industry as it currently exists in the United States may affect the entire pharmaceutical supply chain and the business of other stakeholders, including biopharmaceutical developers like us. In addition, regional healthcare authorities and individual hospitals are increasingly using bidding procedures to determine what pharmaceutical products and which suppliers will be included in their prescription drug and other healthcare programs. These measures could reduce the ultimate demand for our products, once approved, or put pressure on our product pricing.

We expect that these and other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved drug, which could have an adverse effect on customers for our product candidates. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors.

There have been, and likely will continue to be, legislative and regulatory proposals at the foreign, federal and state levels directed at broadening the availability of healthcare and containing or lowering the cost of healthcare. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability, or commercialize our products. Such reforms could have an adverse effect on anticipated revenue from product candidates that we may successfully develop and for which we may obtain regulatory approval and may affect our overall financial condition and ability to develop product candidates.

Competition

We compete with many companies, research institutes, hospitals, governments and universities that are working to develop products and processes to treat AD. Many of these entities have substantially greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing, distribution and other resources than we do. However, there has been a limited number of new product introductions in the last 20 years for the treatment of AD symptoms in patients who begin exhibiting the memory and cognitive disorders associated with the disease. All of the products introduced to date for the treatment of AD have yielded negative or marginal results with little effect on the progression of AD and no improvement in the memory or cognitive performance of the patients receiving these therapies. We believe we are the only company currently pursuing PKC ε activation (with consequent prevention of neuronal death and induction synaptic network growth) as a mechanism to treat AD and neurodegenerative disease. Although we believe that we have no direct competitors working in this same field at the present time, we cannot provide assurance that our competitors will not discover compounds or processes that may be competitive with our products and introduce such products or processes before us.

Employees and Human Capital Resources

As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we have four full-time personnel, including three executive officers and one employee who is primarily engaged in administrative activities. We also have one part-time research and development and regulatory consultant. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement. We believe that relations with our employees and consultants are good.

Our human capital resources objectives include, as applicable, identifying, recruiting, retaining, incentivizing and integrating our existing and new employees, advisors and consultants. The principal purpose of our 2020 Equity Incentive Plan is to attract, retain and reward personnel through the granting of stock-based compensation awards, in order to increase the stockholder value and the success of our company by motivating such individuals to perform to the best of their abilities and achieve our objectives.

Facilities

Our corporate headquarters and facilities are located in New York, New York. We currently lease a total of approximately 300 square feet of building space in New York dedicated to company administration. The lease on our existing New York expires on June 30, 2026, and has rent and other related expenses of approximately $6,300 per month.

Legal Proceedings

There are no legal proceedings against the Company and the Company is unaware of any such proceedings contemplated against it.

Corporate Information

We were incorporated in the State of Delaware on October 31, 2012 as “Neurotrope Bioscience, Inc.,” and on August 23, 2013 we were acquired by Neurotrope, Inc. (“Neurotrope”) as a wholly owned subsidiary. On December 7, 2020, Neurotrope completed the complete legal and structural separation of Synaptogenix, Inc. from Neurotrope (the “Spin-Off”). On June 25, 2025, we filed a Certificate

of Amendment to its Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of State for the State of Delaware, effective June 26, 2025, to change the name of the Company from “Synaptogenix, Inc.” to “TAO Synergies Inc.”

Our principal executive offices are located at 1185 Avenue of the Americas, 3rd Floor, New York, New York, and our telephone number is (973) 242-0005. Our website is located at www. taosynergies.com. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to reports filed pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) will be made available free of charge on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file these materials with, or furnish it to, the SEC on their website located at www.sec.gov. The contents of our website are not incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and our reference to the URL for our website is intended to be an inactive textual reference only. The information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.