US-based biopharmaceutical company Synlogic agreed a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical firm Mirna Therapeutics on Tuesday through an all-stock transaction.
The deal will be conducted through a wholly-owned, undisclosed subsidiary of Mirna. The merged company will operate under the Synlogic name and Synlogic’s shareholders will own approximately 83% of the combined entity.
Jose Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos, chief executive of Synlogic, will remain in the same position for the merged company, which will be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange under a ticker to be revealed closer to the time.
The transaction has been approved by both boards of directors and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017, subject to shareholder approval and following customary conditions.
The newly-formed company will focus on Synlogic’s drug discovery and development platform, which aims to produce medication using synthetic biology to genetically reprogram microbes in order to treat cancer and metabolic and inflammatory diseases.
The merger follows a $42m series C round, announced concurrently, that featured AJU IB Investment, a strategic investment arm of financial services firm AJU Capital.
Ally Bridge Group, Arctic Aurora Lifesciences, CLI Ventures, Perceptive Advisors, Rock Springs Capital, Atlas Venture, Deerfield, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), OrbiMed and undisclosed additional backers also contributed to the series C round.
OrbiMed had led Synlogic’s $40m series B round in February 2016, with participation from Deerfield, Atlas and NEA. Synlogic closed a $34.4m series A round in 2014, obtaining $29.4m from Atlas and NEA in July before securing an additional $5m from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in October.
Mirna floated on Nasdaq in late 2015 in a $43.8m initial public offering. It had raised $78m in equity financing from investors including the strategic investment subsidiaries of pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Baxter, which held post-IPO stakes sized at 12.4% and 3.6% respectively.