Aerpio Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Aadi Biosciences, a privately owned company, have decided to enter into a partnership.
The new company will be known as Aadi Bioscience moniker after the planned merger and will concentrate on developing Fyarrotm, a key drug product of Aadi Bioscience, which is a sirolimus albumin-bound nano-particles for injectable suspension; ABI-009; nab sirolimus.
Aerpio has raised $155 million in pipe funding from KVP Capital, Acuta Capital Partner, including other investment firms.
The total funds raised from the PIPE funding will be projected to finance the business until 2024, along with the money anticipated by both companies.
Neil Desai, the CEO of Aadi, will lead the merged organization, which will be located in Los Angeles, California.
Neil Desai and Richard Maroun, Aadi’s board analyst Karin Hehenberget, and existing board members of Aerpio Anupam Dalal and Caley Castelein will serve as the board of directors of the merged firm.
The managing associate of Avoro Ventures and Avoro Capital Advisors, Behzad Aghazadeh, will also serve as a member of the board of directors.
Aadi stakeholders will be given shares from the recently allocated common shares of Aerpio, based on the terms of the agreement.
Before a new funding deal, Aadi’s stakeholders will acquire approximately 66.8% of the joint venture, and Aerpio shareholders will hold approximately 33.2% of shares.
The board members of both firms have endorsed the partnership agreement, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021.
The financial consultant of Aerpio for the agreement is Ladenburg Thalmann, while Aadi’s financial counselors are Piper Sandler and Perella Weinberg Partners.
APRO shares were up 17.2% in pre-market trading on Monday, closing at $1.36.
