AAA Assembly Pharma and Ventrus Biosciences agree to merge

Assembly Pharma and Ventrus Biosciences agree to merge

US-based pharmaceutical companies Ventrus Biosciences and Assembly Pharmaceuticals have agreed to merge and form a new business that will be called Assembly Biosciences.

Assembly’s investors include Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, the corporate venturing subsidiary of healthcare company Johnson & Johnson, BioCrossroads, Luson Bioventures and Twilight Ventures. All four invested undisclosed amounts earlier this year.

Ventrus is a developer of treatments for gastrointestinal diseases, and it went public in 2011 with no significant external shareholders. The merged company will concentrate on advancing Assembly’s small-molecule hepatitis B (HBV) treatments.

“Our board and management team believe that by joining with Ventrus, we can accelerate the creation of shareholder value as well as the timeline for development of our much-needed HBV therapeutics,” said Derek Small, chief executive officer of Assembly.

“We enthusiastically embraced this opportunity after carefully assessing multiple other attractive proposals to advance Assembly to the next stage.”

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