DJ Aerpio Pharmaceuticals, Aadi Bioscience to Merge
By Michael Dabaie
Aerpio Pharmaceuticals Inc. and privately-held Aadi Bioscience Inc. Monday said they agreed to merge, creating a Nasdaq-listed company focused on advancing Aadi's late-stage pipeline for cancers.
Aerpio said it would change its name to Aadi Bioscience Inc. following the merger, with the combined public company focusing on advancing Aadi's lead product candidate Fyarro.
A rolling new drug application submission to the Food and Drug Administration for Fyarro in advanced malignant perivascular epithelioid sarcoma, or PEComa, is expected to be completed in mid-2021, the company said.
Aerpio shares rose 6% premarket to $1.23.
Aerpio said it entered into subscription agreements to raise $155 million in a private-investment-in-public-equity financing led by Acuta Capital Partners and KVP Capital. The financing includes Avoro Capital Advisors, Avoro Ventures, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, BVF Partners, L.P., Vivo Capital, Alta Bioequities L.P., Rock Springs Capital, RTW Investments LP, Acorn Bioventures and Serrado Capital LLC as well as other undisclosed institutional investors, the company said.
The company said it expects to use proceeds from the PIPE financing for commercialization of Fyarro in advanced malignant PEComa and a planned trial in solid tumors harboring inactivating alterations in the mTOR pathway genes TSC1 and TSC2. The trial is expected to be initiated by the end of 2021.
The combined company is expected to be led by Aadi's Chief Executive Neil Desai and headquartered in Los Angeles.
Aadi shareholders will receive shares of newly issued Aerpio common stock. On a pro forma basis, shareholders of Aadi will own about 66.8% and shareholders of Aerpio about 33.2% of the combined company, prior to the additional PIPE financing transaction. Following the closing of the concurrent PIPE financing, Aerpio shareholders will own about 14.7% of the combined company.
Write to Michael Dabaie at michael.dabaie@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 17, 2021 07:53 ET (11:53 GMT)
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