Acer Therapeutics and Opexa Therapeutics Close Merger and Financing
Sep 19, 2017
https://acertx.com/acertherapeuticsando ... financing/
CAMBRIDGE, MA – Acer Therapeutics Inc., (Nasdaq: ACER), a pharmaceutical company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of therapies for serious rare and ultra-rare diseases with critical unmet medical need, announced that today it completed the merger with Opexa Therapeutics, Inc., under which the stockholders of Acer (including investors in a financing that closed concurrently with the merger) become holders of 88.8% of combined company’s outstanding common stock, with Opexa shareholders retaining 11.2%. In conjunction with the merger, a syndicate of existing and new investors led by TVM Capital Life Sciences invested approximately $15.7 million in Acer (including through a conversion of approximately $5.7 million in outstanding convertible notes) immediately prior to closing of the merger. “Acer’s goal is to become a leading pharmaceutical company that acquires, develops and commercializes therapies for the treatment of patients with serious rare and ultra-rare diseases with critical unmet medical need,” said Chris Schelling, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Acer. “We have committed significant resources to rapidly advance our lead candidate EDSIVO™, a potential life-saving therapy for patients with vEDS. We believe that the proceeds from the concurrent financing will allow us to advance EDSIVO™ through NDA submission with the FDA in the first half of 2018. As a public company, we now look forward to engaging with a broader pool of investors as we seek to advance and expand our pipeline and make multiple products available to patients over the next several years.”
- Merger to create a pre-NDA-stage, Nasdaq-listed, pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapies for serious rare diseases with critical unmet medical need
- Combined company, renamed Acer Therapeutics Inc., to commence trading on Nasdaq under the symbol “ACER” on September 21
- Concurrent financing of $15.7 million from Acer investor syndicate
- Acer plans to file a NDA for its lead product, EDSIVO™, for the treatment of vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (vEDS) in the first half of 2018
About the Merger
Existing stockholders of Acer, as well as investors in Acer’s concurrent financing, received newly issued shares of Opexa common stock in connection with the merger. In the combined company: (a) Opexa shareholders retained 11.2%, (b) Acer stockholders own 63.8% (excluding shares issued to them in the concurrent financing), and (c) the investors participating in the concurrent financing own 25% (excluding shares previously held by them). The combined company has approximately 6.6 million shares of common stock outstanding, following a reverse split of 1-for-10.355527. Upon completion of the merger today, Opexa was renamed Acer Therapeutics Inc. The combined company will commence trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “ACER” on September 21, 2017. The directors and the sole executive officer of Opexa resigned from their positions with Opexa upon the closing of the merger, and the combined company is now under the leadership of Acer’s current executive management team with Chris Schelling serving as President and Chief Executive Officer. The board of directors of the combined company consists of 7 members: Steve Aselage, Jason Amello, Hubert Birner, John Dunn, Michelle Griffin, Luc Marengere and Mr. Schelling.