Ventrus Biosciences To Merge With HBV Drug Developer Assembly Pharma

(RTTNews) - Ventrus Biosciences, Inc. (VTUS) Monday said it has entered into a merger agreement with Assembly Pharmaceuticals, a privately held virology-focused biopharmaceutical company, in an all-stock transaction.

Upon the merger completion, the combined entity will be renamed Assembly Biosciences, Inc. and trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker "ASMB".

In pre-market activity, Ventrus shares are gaining $0.10 or 9.43 percent, and trading at $1.16.

Following the deal closure, the new company will focus on the development of Assembly's novel, first-in-class small molecules to treat, and potentially cure, hepatitis B virus or HBV infection, which is a global epidemic with more than 350 million people worldwide chronically infected.

Assembly has discovered a series of HBV Core Protein Allosteric Modulators or CpAMs and has shown preclinical proof of principle with significant reductions in the HBV "S" antigen in in vitro experiments.

The company noted that Assembly's CpAMs have shown they can selectively and potently reduce viral load, and the key viral antigens, HBV "S" antigen (HBsAg) and HBV "E" antigen (HBeAg). Reduction of HBsAg in patients is considered to be the best marker of a functional cure, and is a key clinical endpoint in development.

Russell Ellison, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Ventrus, said, "We believe this merger has tremendous potential. Assembly has amassed an enormous depth of scientific expertise and created a high quality drug discovery effort aimed at advancing its potentially curative therapies for HBV."

In the new company, Ellison will be Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, while Derek Small, co-founder of Assembly and its Chairman and CEO, will become President, Chief Operating Officer and Director.

Consummation of this merger, expected to be completed by July 10, 2014, is subject to the approval by the Ventrus stockholders.