A prolific builder of biopharma and health technology companies, Roivant Sciences Ltd. is poised to join Nasdaq through a newly proposed merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by Patient Square Capital LLC. The deal, which values Roivant at $5 billion, includes $611 million of new money, composed of $411 million held in trust by the SPAC, Montes Archimedes Acquisition Corp., plus $200 million from a committed PIPE financing. The transaction, expected to peg Roivant's initial market cap at $7.3 billion, follows a September 2019 deal in which Roivant sold interests in five biopharmas to Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co. Ltd. (SDP) for $3 billion cash.
Less than a month after informing the market of a slowdown caused by pandemic-related site closures in phase II studies with neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn)-targeting IMVT-1401, Immunovant Inc. said it’s voluntarily pausing dosing with the compound in thyroid eye disease (TED) in the study called Ascend Go-2 because of a worrisome physiological signal. The New York-based firm plans to investigate and, after seeking the FDA’s go-ahead on tweaks to the program, forge onward with development.
New York-based Immunovant Inc.’s phase IIa results with neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn)-targeting IMVT-1401 in thyroid eye disease (TED), also known as Graves’ ophthalmopathy, prompted renewed speculation about the space, hot since the approval on Jan. 21 of Tepezza (teprotumumab-trbw) from Horizon Therapeutics plc, of Dublin.