Eye-disease-focused Acelyrin will be absorbed into immune-mediated disease specialist Alumis as part of an all-stock merger.
The resulting company will continue under the Alumis name at the biotech’s South San Francisco headquarters and be headed up by Alumis’ executive team. Stockholders of Alumis—which went public last year—will own 55% of the company, with Acelyrin’s shareholders comprising the remaining 45%.
With Acelyrin sitting on $448 million in cash and equivalents and Alumis bringing $289 million to the table, Alumis expects that postmerger it will have a cash runway into 2027.
The expanded Alumis will be taking its pick from the two companies’ pipelines. This includes continuing with its own ESK-001, an allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 inhibitor in a phase 3 plaque psoriasis trial, as well as the TYK2 inhibitor A-005, which is being lined up for a phase 2 trial in multiple sclerosis later this year.
The company will also take forward Acelyrin’s anti-IGF-1R monoclonal antibody lonigutamab, which is in a phase 2 trial for thyroid eye disease. Acelyrin will “re-evaluate the development program for lonigutamab to confirm its differentiation in a capital efficient manner,” according to the Feb. 6 postmarket release.
Recent months have proved tough for Acelyrin, which laid off a third of its workforce last summer as the biotech shifted attention from its former lead asset izokibep to lonigutamab, with hopes the latter drug could be a competitor to Amgen's thyroid eye disease blockbuster Tepezza.
Then, last week, Affibody claimed Acelyrin had “not been able to fully capitalize” on izokibep’s potential after Acelyrin punted the drug back to its former partner.
In yesterday’s release, Bruce Cozadd, chair of Acelyrin’s board, said the merger with Alumis “represents the culmination of a thorough strategic review process … to determine the best and most value-maximizing path forward.”
“We are confident that Alumis is the right partner to optimize the development of lonigutamab and together deliver long-term stockholder value,” Cozadd added.
Alumis’ CEO Martin Babler said the merger would provide Alumis with “the financial flexibility and runway to advance an expanded late-stage pipeline, now including lonigutamab, and build commercial capabilities.”