Date: 2016-07-27
Type of information: Company acquisition
Acquired company: FirstString Research (USA - SC)
Acquiring company: Relief Therapeutics (Switzerland)
Amount: undisclosed
Terms: * On July 27, 2016, Relief Therapeutics announced that it has executed a term sheet under which it shall acquire FirstString Research, a Delaware corporation headquartered in Charleston, in an all-stock transaction. The envisaged transaction would involve the issuance of new shares of Relief Therapeutics to the existing equity holders of FirstString Research, such that the existing equity holders of FirstString Research would own no less than 33% and no more than 40% of the final combined company.
Details: FirstString Research is a privately-held clinical-stage biotechnology company, which was founded based on pioneering research from the Medical University of South Carolina characterizing the therapeutic role of connexin-based protein signalling. The company’s lead drug candidate, Granexin® gel (aCT-1), is a novel, proprietary peptide mimetic of the C-terminus of connexin43, which has been shown to play a fundamental role in processes that are critical to wound healing. Granexin® gel has demonstrated positive proof-of-concept efficacy and benign safety in three placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blinded clinical trials and is poised to enter Phase 3 development for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers. The transaction also brings Relief Therapeutics a pipeline of preclinical and early-stage clinical assets based on FirstString’s pioneering characterization of the functions of connexin protein signaling. Relief Therapeutics also holds worldwide rights to atexakin alfa, in-licensed from Merck KGaA, which is slated to enter Phase 2 testing in peripheral neuropathies in 2017. The company is also slated to possess an extensive early-stage pipeline consisting of at least 10 projects spanning various therapeutic indications in oncology, ophthalmology, pulmonology and infectious disease.
Following the completion of the transaction, Relief Therapeutics is slated to have two Phase 3 programs in the form of aviptadil for the treatment of sarcoidosis and Granexin® gel for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers, both of which could begin enrollment next year. The proposed Granexin® Phase 3 program has been reviewed and approved by the FDA, with which FirstString has held a successful End-of-Phase 2 meeting. Each of these clinical programs could yield top-line data in 2018.
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