Enliven Therapeutics and Imara Announce Merger Agreement
-- Merger to create Nasdaq-listed, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
focused on advancing Enliven's portfolio of precision oncology programs
-- Combined company is expected to have a cash balance of approximately $300
million at close, which is expected to provide cash runway through
multiple clinical milestones and into early 2026
-- Planned concurrent financing of approximately $165 million co-led by new
investors Fairmount and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, with
participation from additional new investors including Fidelity Management
& Research Company, RA Capital Management, Frazier Life Sciences and
Commodore Capital and support from all existing Enliven investors
-- Companies to host conference call today at 5:00 p.m. E.T.
Boulder, CO and Boston, MA, Oct. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enliven Therapeutics, Inc. (Enliven), a clinical-stage precision oncology company focused on the discovery and development of next-generation small molecule kinase inhibitors, and Imara Inc. (Nasdaq: IMRA) (Imara) today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to combine the companies in an all-stock transaction. The combined company will focus on advancing Enliven's pipeline of precision oncology product candidates. Enliven is advancing two parallel lead product candidates: ELVN-001, a highly selective small molecule BCR-ABL inhibitor designed to address the challenges that limit the efficacy, tolerability and convenience of currently available adenosine triphosphate $(ATP.AU)$-competitive tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia $(CML.UK)$, and ELVN-002, a potent, selective and irreversible HER2 and pan-HER2 mutant kinase inhibitor for the treatment of HER2 mutant lung cancer and other HER2-driven tumor types. Upon completion of the merger, which is subject to approval by Imara's and Enliven's stockholders, the combined company is expected to operate under the name Enliven Therapeutics, Inc. and trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ELVN.
In support of the merger, Enliven also intends to raise approximately $165 million in a concurrent private financing co-led by new investors Fairmount and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, with participation from additional new investors, which include Fidelity Management & Research Company, RA Capital Management, Frazier Life Sciences and Commodore Capital. All of Enliven's existing investors will participate in the financing, including OrbiMed, 5AM Ventures, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Cormorant Asset Management, Roche Venture Fund, Sheatree Capital, Boxer Capital, Logos Capital and Janus Henderson Investors. The financing was oversubscribed and new investor allocations account for over 60% of the total size of the financing, which is expected to close immediately prior to the completion of the merger.
With the cash expected from both companies at closing and the proceeds of the planned concurrent financing, the combined company is currently expected to have approximately $300 million of cash and cash equivalents at closing, after transaction expenses. The cash resources are expected to be used to advance Enliven's pipeline through multiple clinical milestones and provide runway into early 2026. The merger and financing are expected to close in the first quarter of 2023, subject to stockholder approval of both companies, the effectiveness of a registration statement to be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission $(SEC.UK)$ to register the shares of Imara common stock to be issued in connection with the merger, and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
"We are excited to announce this merger with Imara, which comes at a pivotal moment for Enliven. We recently initiated our Phase 1 clinical trial for ELVN-001, which is being evaluated in adults with CML, and expect to file our IND for ELVN-002 by the end of the year. We expect this transaction to provide Enliven with capital to fund us through multiple key milestones and allow us to explore the potential of our pipeline. We look forward to helping people with cancer to not only live longer, but live better," said Sam Kintz, MBA, Enliven's Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer.
"Following an extensive and thoughtful review of several strategic alternatives, it became clear that the proposed merger with Enliven was a compelling option for our stockholders," said Rahul Ballal, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Imara. "Enliven has a differentiated pipeline, an experienced team and we expect the combined company to be well financed by top-tier investors to execute on its clinical mission. We look forward to the company's continued progress in the clinic."
About Enliven's Precision Oncology Portfolio
Enliven is a clinical-stage precision oncology company focused on the discovery and development of potentially best-in-class or first-in-class precision oncology therapies. Enliven's programs are designed to address issues such as tolerability, combinability, resistance and disease escape through brain metastases. Enliven is advancing two parallel lead product candidates:
ELVN-001: Enliven's most advanced candidate, ELVN-001, is a potent, highly selective, small molecule kinase inhibitor designed to specifically target the BCR-ABL gene fusion, the oncogenic driver for patients with CML. Although the approval of BCR-ABL TKIs has improved the life expectancy of patients with CML significantly, tolerability, safety, resistance and patient convenience concerns have become more prominent as patients can now expect to live on therapy for decades. These issues can result in the loss of molecular response and disease progression for many patients and drive approximately 20% of patients to switch therapy within the first year and approximately 40% to switch in the first 5 years. Enliven's preclinical studies showed that ELVN-001 does not meaningfully interfere with the activity of kinases that we believe limit efficacy and tolerability of approved ATP-competitive TKIs. Additionally, given ELVN-001's mechanism of action, it potentially represents a complementary option to allosteric BCR-ABL inhibitors, which may play an increasingly important role in the standard of care. ELVN-001 was also designed to be efficacious against the T315I mutation, the most common BCR-ABL mutation, which confers resistance to nearly all approved TKIs. Importantly, ELVN-001 was designed to be a more attractive option for patients with comorbidities, on concomitant medications or desiring more freedom from stringent administration requirements. ELVN-001 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial in adults with CML. To learn more, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05304377).
ELVN-002: Enliven's second product candidate, ELVN-002, is a potent, selective and irreversible HER2 inhibitor with activity against various HER2 mutations, including Exon 20 insertion mutations (E20IMs) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), for which there are currently no approved small molecule inhibitors. ELVN-002 is designed to inhibit HER2 and key mutations of HER2, while sparing wild-type EGFR and avoiding EGFR-related toxicities. Enliven believes that if ELVN-002 achieves this profile, it will be able to achieve an improved therapeutic index compared to current approved and investigational TKIs as well as provide a meaningful therapeutic option to patients with brain metastases, a key mechanism of resistance to current therapies in patients with NSCLC and other HER2 driven diseases. While the initial focus for this program is for HER2 mutant NSCLC, Enliven intends to seek to expand the opportunity to patients with other HER2 mutations as well as HER2 amplified tumors including breast, colorectal and gastric cancers.
In addition to its two lead programs, Enliven is pursuing several additional research stage opportunities that align with its development approach. Enliven is in the process of screening and optimizing the chemistry for multiple programs and expects to make a product candidate nomination for its third program in the first half of 2023.
About the Proposed Merger
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Imara will issue to pre-merger Enliven stockholders shares of Imara common stock as merger consideration in exchange for the cancellation of shares of capital stock of Enliven and Enliven will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Imara. Pre-merger Imara stockholders are expected to own approximately 16% of the combined company and pre-merger Enliven stockholders (including those purchasing Enliven shares in the private financing discussed above) are expected to own approximately 84% of the combined company. The percentage of the combined company that pre-merger Enliven stockholders and pre-merger Imara stockholders will own as of the close of the proposed transaction is subject to certain adjustments as described in the merger agreement, including the amount of Imara's net cash at closing. Immediately prior to the closing of the proposed merger, pre-merger Imara stockholders will be issued contingent value rights representing the right to receive certain payments received by the combined company, if any, related to the previously announced pending sale of tovinontrine (IMR-687) or related to any potential sale or license of IMR-261.
Upon closing of the proposed transaction, Imara Inc. will be renamed Enliven Therapeutics, Inc. The combined company will be led by Sam Kintz, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Enliven, and other members of the Enliven management team. The combined company's board of directors will be comprised of all of the directors of Enliven's board of directors and one director designated from Imara's board of directors, who is expected to be Rahul Ballal, Imara's President and Chief Executive Officer.
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