Eqrx Inc., a startup co-founded by serial biotech entrepreneur and investor Alexis Borisy to deliver new medicines for cancer and other conditions at "radically lower prices," is poised to raise up to $1.8 billion via a merger with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) CM Life Sciences III Inc. The transaction, which would bring Eqrx to Nasdaq, includes a fully committed and upsized PIPE of $1.2 billion led by Softbank Group's SB Management Ltd. as well as SPAC sponsors Casdin Capital LLC and Corvex Management LP, plus $550 million of cash and trust held by the SPAC itself.
Less than a year after landing a multibillion-dollar deal expansion with partner Gilead Sciences Inc., targeted cancer drug developer Tango Therapeutics Inc. is making moves to go public via a merger with Boxer Capital LLC-sponsored special purpose acquisition company BCTG Acquisition Corp.
LONDON – Privately held U.K. biotech F-star Therapeutics Ltd. is gaining a Nasdaq listing via a reverse merger with Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals Inc., with F-star’s shareholders due to own 61% of the new entity, to be named F-star Therapeutics Inc.
Aduro Biotech Inc. and privately held Chinook Therapeutics Inc., will merge to focus mainly on kidney diseases. Two complementary drugs are involved in the deal.
Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH, of Tuebingen, Germany, and Arya Sciences Acquisition Corp. plan to merge as Immatics NV. Immatics will receive gross proceeds of up to $252 million at closing, which is expected in the second quarter of 2020.
Calling the tie "magic," Pfizer Inc. CEO Albert Bourla defended his firm's decision to spin off its Upjohn unit and merge in an all-stock deal with Mylan N.V., creating a new entity to be named later with pro forma revenues as high as $20 billion. "We have a commercial footprint that is very much focused on China, on emerging markets," he said, which will help Mylan.
Keeping with the trend of high-value biopharma deals, the second quarter of 2019 logged another eight partnerships worth $1 billion or more, with Gilead Sciences Inc. a party to three of them.