Pyxis Oncology has announced a definitive agreement by which it will acquire Apexigen in an all-stock transaction for an implied value of $0.64 per Apexigen share.
For each share of Apexigen, Pyxis Oncology will issue 0.1725 shares of its common stock, par value $0.001 per share, for a total enterprise value of approximately $16 million.
“This acquisition uniquely positions Pyxis Oncology at the forefront of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) innovation by adding humanised antibody generation to our Flexible Antibody Conjugation Technology (FACT) ADC toolkit acquired from Pfizer, and expands our clinical pipeline into Phase II in select solid tumour types by leveraging our founding heritage of immuno-oncology expertise – all while maintaining our cash runway into 2025,” said Lara Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pyxis Oncology.
Apexigen’s sotigalimab is a potential best-in-class Phase II CD40 agonist, that has demonstrated rapid, deep and durable responses across difficult-to-treat tumour types. It has been evaluated in more than 500 patients in clinical trials and demonstrated strong activity, including rapid, deep and durable responses and a favourable tolerability profile.
Xiaodong Yang, Chief Executive Officer of Apexigen, stated: “I am proud of the foundational work Apexigen has done to advance sotigalimab into Phase II trials across multiple solid tumour types. With Pyxis Oncology’s strong cash position and its commitment to further sotigalimab’s development, we believe that this transaction will greatly enhance the opportunity to efficiently advance sotigalimab for patients suffering from a variety of difficult-to-treat cancers.”
