Oqory’s planned reverse merger with fellow antibody-drug conjugate company Vincerx Pharma has fallen apart at the last minute, leaving Vincerx to size up its remaining options in the final months before its cash runs dry.
The deal, which was expected to include a minimum fully diluted equity value of $13.66 million, would have seen 95% of the merged business owned by Oqory’s current equity holders while making use of Vincerx’s Nasdaq listing. When it announced the agreement in late December, Vincerx also initiated a C-suite clear-out that saw Ahmed Hamdy, M.D., stepping down as CEO and Chief Financial Officer Alexander Seelenberger leaving his role, alongside a wider “workforce reduction.”
At the time, Vincerx’s chief operations officer Raquel Izumi, Ph.D., who was moved into the acting CEO role, described being acquired by Oqory as “highlight[ing] Vincerx’s commitment to develop ADCs with improved safety profiles that allow patients to thrive on—rather than endure—their cancer therapies.”
Everything seemed on track as recently as late January, with the companies together announcing “promising” phase 1 data for Oqory’s anti-TROP2 ADC in patients with solid tumors.
However, in a surprise announcement Friday, Vincerx revealed that the deal has in fact been terminated. With just $3.9 million left in the bank—which the biotech expects to run out within the next three months—Vincerx is left to “reassess its strategic options.”
These could span the usual range of out-licensing an asset, another attempt at a merger, or even winding down the company.
The Palo Alto, California-based company has three candidates in its phase 1 pipeline in the form of a next-gen ADC, a small molecule drug conjugate and a CDK9 inhibitor. There is also another ADC in preclinical development.
Fierce Biotech has asked Oqory for more information on the reason for the deal’s termination.