Synlogic Takes Chance on Failed Austin Biotech, Finds Spot in the Nasdaq
May 16, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Shares of Mirna Therapeutics are down more than 20 percent following news that privately-held Synlogic is pulling off a reverse merger with the failed Texas-based company.
In November 2016 Mirna, discontinued all research and development activities, including the failed lead candidate MRX34. After announcing the company was discontinuing its R&D activities, Mirna executives began searching for strategic alternatives for investors.
Paul Lammers, president and chief executive officer of Mirna, said the merger with Synlogic was the best alternative for Mirna stockholders.
The new company will continue under the Synlogic name and will focus on advancing Synlogic’s drug discovery and development platform for synthetic biotic medicines. The synthetic drugs are designed using synthetic biology to genetically reprogram beneficial microbes to treat metabolic and inflammatory diseases and cancer, the company said in its statement.
Following the merger, Jose Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos will become the CEO of the merged companies. The board of directors will be comprised of seven directors, including two directors currently serving on Mirna’s board. Upon closing of the transaction, the merged company will operate under the Synlogic name and the company’s common stock will trade on the NASDAQ global market under a ticker symbol to be announced at a later date. The corporate headquarters will be located in Cambridge, Mass.
“We believe that our synthetic biotic medicines are efficient and targeted biologic engines with the potential to have a transformative impact on the treatment of human diseases. While many conventional medicines address one molecular dysfunction, these living medicines have the potential to uniquely and effectively compensate for entire processes or pathways to treat patients with significant unmet medical need,” Gutierrez-Ramos said in a statement.
In addition to the reverse merger, Synlogic also recently closed a $42 million Series C preferred stock financing.
“This merger and our recently completed Series C financing are projected to provide the capital to progress our two lead metabolic disease programs through patient proof-of-concept studies as well as advance the development of our earlier product candidates,” Gutierrez-Ramos said in a statement.
By mid-2017, Synlogic plans to initiate a Phase I healthy volunteers study for its lead candidate, SYNB1020, which is for the potential treatment of urea cycle disorders (UCD) and hepatic encephalopathy (HE), both diseases where patients experience elevated ammonia levels. Following success in the first study, the company plans to open two parallel studies in symptomatic patients with UCD and HE, the company said. Additionally, Synlogic’s second development candidate SYNB1618 will be studied in phenylketonuria (PKU), which is caused by defective metabolism of the amino acid phenylalanine.
Following the merger, current Synlogic shareholders are expected to own approximately 83 percent of the combined company and the current Mirna stockholders will own approximately 17 percent.