Immune Therapeutics to Acquire Aletheia Therapeutics in All-Stock Transaction to Form Next-Generation Precision Oncology Company

On December 16, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) learned that biopharmaceutical company Immune Therapeutics (hereinafter referred to as “Immune”) had acquired biotechnology company Aletheia Therapeutics (hereinafter referred to as “Aletheia”) in an all-stock transaction. Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Immune will acquire all outstanding shares of Aletheia in exchange for common stock of Immune. The transaction is expected to close in the next quarter.

Under the announced initial terms, Immune will launch a tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Aletheia through a subsidiary. The completion of the offer is subject to certain conditions, including the completion of due diligence, the hiring of Aletheia’s management team as part of Immune’s management team, and the transfer of all intellectual property rights to Immune. In addition, Aletheia has entered into a definitive stock purchase agreement with an investment group for $25 million. Upon completion of the acquisition, Immune and Aletheia will have sufficient funding to implement their 2020 product development strategy.

Immune (formerly TNI BioTech, Inc.) is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and commercialization of innovative therapies in oncology, immunology, and anti-inflammatory diseases. Its goal is to benefit patients with chronic and common life-threatening conditions by activating and rebalancing the body’s immune system through its proprietary immunotherapies. The company’s products, technologies, and patents are designed to harness the power of the immune system to improve treatments for cancer and infectious diseases (such as HIV/AIDS) and autoimmune disorders.

Immune’s most advanced clinical programs involve immunotherapy using methionine-enkephalin (MENK) or low-dose naltrexone, both of which activate and expand various cells within the immune system by triggering opioid receptors on immune cells.

It is reported that the acquisition plan aims to establish a new precision oncology company. This acquisition will strengthen the existing management team’s capabilities and provide ample R&D funding, thereby bringing more innovative oncology technologies to Immune. In recent years, researchers have demonstrated that cancer possesses inherent heterogeneity, with a single tumor exhibiting up to one hundred distinct cellular phenotypes. This new understanding has paved the way for novel cancer treatment approaches that target multiple biological pathways in cancer, offering improved efficacy and reduced toxicity. The merged company will focus on developing precise, commercializable cancer therapies. These therapies can be flexibly tailored to the specific composition of a patient’s cancer, simultaneously targeting two or more of the following biological targets: DNA repair, T-cell activation, metabolic dysfunction, angiogenesis, apoptosis, or inflammation.

Michael Handley, CEO and President of Immune, stated, “Through this acquisition, we will be able to develop a diversified therapeutic platform targeting multiple key biological pathways, which will be used to design personalized cancer treatment regimens. The combination of Aletheia’s diverse oncology product portfolio with Immune’s Lodonal™ and MENK products will create an industry-leading oncology company.”

This is a biotechnology company founded in 2002 that develops monoclonal antibody therapies for cancer-related diseases. The company is dedicated to the discovery and development of monoclonal antibody-based treatments, with a focus on cancer-associated epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), ovarian cancer, and cancer-induced osteoporosis. Alethia is currently focusing on AB-16B5, a clinical-stage EMT inhibitor targeting cancer-associated epithelial-mesenchymal transition, which prevents chemotherapy resistance and the invasion of metastatic tumors.

(Compiled by Wang Jingna)