14.10.2022 08:00:10

Portfolio Company Imara Announces Merger Agreement with Enliven Therapeutics

Arix Bioscience PLC (ARIX)
Portfolio Company Imara Announces Merger Agreement with Enliven Therapeutics

14-Oct-2022 / 07:00 GMT/BST
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Arix Bioscience plc

 

Portfolio Company Imara Announces Merger Agreement with Enliven Therapeutics

 

Merger to create a Nasdaq-listed, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on advancing Enlivens pipeline of precision oncology product candidates

 

Transaction to concurrently raise approximately $165 million in a private financing co-led by new investors Fairmount and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, with participation from additional new investors

 

LONDON, 14 October 2022: Arix Bioscience plc (LSE: ARIX), a global venture capital company focused on investing in breakthrough biotechnology companies, notes that its portfolio company, Imara Inc. (Imara) (Nasdaq: IMRA), has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Enliven Therapeutics, Inc. (Enliven) to create a Nasdaq-listed clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in an all-stock transaction. The combined company will focus on advancing Enlivens pipeline of precision oncology product candidates. Upon shareholder approval, the combined company is expected to operate under the name Enliven Therapeutics, Inc. and trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ELVN.

 

In support of the merger, Enliven also intends to raise approximately $165 million in a concurrent private financing co-led by new investors Fairmount and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, with participation from additional new investors, which include Fidelity Management & Research Company, RA Capital Management, Frazier Life Sciences and Commodore Capital. With the cash expected from both companies at closing and the proceeds of the planned concurrent financing, the combined company is currently expected to have approximately $300 million of cash and cash equivalents at closing, after transaction expenses. The cash resources are expected to be used to advance Enlivens pipeline through multiple clinical milestones and provide runway into early 2026.

 

Robert Lyne, CEO of Arix Bioscience, stated: The merger of Enliven with Imara will bring a differentiated, clinical stage pipeline of precision oncology assets to the public market. We are pleased to note that with the proposed financing backed by a group of top tier investors, the combined company will be well funded with sufficient cash to achieve multiple clinical development milestones into 2026.

 

 

[ENDS]

For more information on Arix, please contact:

 

Arix Bioscience plc

+44 (0)20 7290 1050

ir@arixbioscience.com

 

Powerscourt Group

Sarah MacLeod, Ibrahim Khalil, Nick Johnson

+44 (0)20 7250 1446

 

Notes to Editors

 

About Enliven Therapeutics, Inc.

Enliven Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of small molecule inhibitors to help patients with cancer live not only longer, but better. Enliven aims to address existing and emerging unmet needs with a precision oncology approach that improves survival and enhances overall patient well-being. Enlivens discovery process combines deep insights from clinically validated biological targets and differentiated chemistry to design potentially first-in-class or best-in-class therapies. Enliven is based in Boulder, Colorado.

 

About Enlivens Precision Oncology Portfolio

Enliven is a clinical-stage precision oncology company focused on the discovery and development of potentially best-in-class or first-in-class precision oncology therapies. Enlivens programs are designed to address issues such as tolerability, combinability, resistance and disease escape through brain metastases. Enliven is advancing two parallel lead product candidates:

 

ELVN-001: Enlivens most advanced candidate, ELVN-001, is a potent, highly selective, small molecule kinase inhibitor designed to specifically target the BCR-ABL gene fusion, the oncogenic driver for patients with CML. Although the approval of BCR-ABL TKIs has improved the life expectancy of patients with CML significantly, tolerability, safety, resistance and patient convenience concerns have become more prominent as patients can now expect to live on therapy for decades. These issues can result in the loss of molecular response and disease progression for many patients and drive approximately 20% of patients to switch therapy within the first year and approximately 40% to switch in the first 5 years. Enlivens preclinical studies showed that ELVN-001 does not meaningfully interfere with the activity of kinases that we believe limit efficacy and tolerability of approved ATP-competitive TKIs. Additionally, given ELVN-001's mechanism of action, it potentially represents a complementary option to allosteric BCR-ABL inhibitors, which may play an increasingly important role in the standard of care. ELVN-001 was also designed to be efficacious against the T315I mutation, the most common BCR-ABL mutation, which confers resistance to nearly all approved TKIs. Importantly, ELVN-001 was designed to be a more attractive option for patients with comorbidities, on concomitant medications or desiring more freedom from stringent administration requirements. ELVN-001 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical

trial in adults with CML. To learn more, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05304377).

 

ELVN-002: Enlivens second product candidate, ELVN-002, is a potent, selective and irreversible HER2 inhibitor with activity against various HER2 mutations, including Exon 20 insertion mutations (E20IMs) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), for which there are currently no approved small molecule inhibitors. ELVN-002 is designed to inhibit HER2 and key mutations of HER2, while sparing wild-type EGFR and avoiding EGFR-related toxicities. Enliven believes that if ELVN-002 achieves this profile, it will be able to achieve an improved therapeutic index compared to current approved and investigational TKIs as well as provide a meaningful therapeutic option to patients with brain metastases, a key mechanism of resistance to current therapies in patients with NSCLC and other HER2 driven diseases. While the initial focus for this program is for HER2 mutant NSCLC, Enliven intends to seek to expand the opportunity to patients with other HER2 mutations as well as HER2 amplified tumors including breast, colorectal, and gastric cancers.

 

In addition to its two lead programs, Enliven is pursuing several additional research stage opportunities that align with its development approach. Enliven is in the process of screening and optimizing the chemistry for multiple programs and expects to make a product candidate nomination for its third program in the first half of 2023.

 

About Arix Bioscience plc

Arix Bioscience plc is a global venture capital company focused on investing in breakthrough biotechnology companies around cutting-edge advances in life sciences.

We collaborate with exceptional entrepreneurs and provide the capital, expertise, and global networks to help accelerate their ideas into important new treatments for patients. As a listed company, we are able to bring this exciting growth phase of our industry to a broader range of investors. www.arixbioscience.com



ISIN: GB00BD045071
Category Code: PFU
TIDM: ARIX
LEI Code: 213800OVT3AHQCXNIX43
OAM Categories: 3.1. Additional regulated information required to be disclosed under the laws of a Member State
Sequence No.: 194477
EQS News ID: 1463613

 
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