North Carolina-based Targacept and California-based Catalyst Biosciences, a privately held biopharmaceutical company, have entered into a definitive agreement to merge the two companies.
The combined entity, to be named Catalyst Biosciences, is expected to create a financially strong company with a focus on using engineered human proteases to develop next-generation biopharmaceuticals with improved efficacy and therapeutic index to treat major diseases.
The combined company A pipeline of protease therapeutics including PF-05280602 (formerly CB 813d), an engineered Factor VIIa (FVIIa) drug candidate that successfully completed a Phase 1 clinical trial and is being developed by Pfizer Inc. under license from Catalyst.
As part of the proposed transaction, the stockholders of Catalyst will initially own approximately 65 percent of the combined company, and the operations of both companies will be combined. Targacept cash remaining in the combined company will be $35 million, along with an anticipated $5 million of cash from Catalyst.
Read the company press release
