Under the terms of the transaction, Pyxis Oncology expects to issue around 4.4 million shares of its common stock to Apexigen stockholders to acquire the biopharmaceutical company

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A histopathologic view of malignant melanoma. (Credit: KGH from Wikimedia Commons)

Therapeutics developer Pyxis Oncology has signed a definitive agreement to acquire biopharmaceutical company Apexigen for a total enterprise value of around $16m.

This all-stock transaction is priced at an implied value of $0.64 per Apexigen share.

Under the terms of the transaction, Pyxis Oncology expects to issue around 4.4 million shares of its common stock to Apexigen stockholders to acquire the biopharmaceutical company.

Pyxis Oncology will issue 0.1725 shares of its common stock, a par value of $0.001 per share, for each share of Apexigen.

The deal is expected to position Pyxis at the forefront of Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) development.

The therapeutics developer will also get access to the commercially and clinically validated APXiMAB platform for antibody generation.

Apexigen’s proprietary antibody discovery platform will complement the Flexible Antibody Conjugation Technology (FACT) ADC toolkit of linkers, payloads and conjugation chemistries previously obtained from pharmaceutical major Pfizer.

The oncology company will also be eligible to get royalty income generated from partnered programs made using APXiMAB.

Additionally, Pyxis will acquire Apexigen’s sotigalimab, which is a differentiated, potentially best-in-class anti-CD40 antibody in clinical development for liposarcoma, melanoma, and other cancers.

Pyxis CEO and president Lara Sullivan said: “We are excited about the potential to acquire the commercially and clinically validated APXiMAB platform to generate novel antibodies that can be optimized for targeted payload delivery.

“In combination with our proprietary FACT platform, we believe Pyxis Oncology is positioned with an unmatched, end-to-end system for designing and producing novel, next-generation ADC candidates with improved potency, stability and tolerability.”

Upon completion of the deal, Apexigen will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pyxis Oncology.

Furthermore, Apexigen’s stockholders will own around 10% of the combined company and Pyxis Oncology’s current stockholders will own approximately 90% of the combined company.

The definitive merger agreement is expected to close by mid-2023, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions. The deal is already approved by the boards of directors of each company.

Apexigen CEO Xiaodong Yang said: “I am proud of the foundational work Apexigen has done to advance sotigalimab into Phase 2 trials across multiple solid tumour types. Apexigen and Pyxis Oncology share a common vision of bringing innovative solutions to oncology patients.”