Biopharma is no stranger to the special purpose acquisition company dealmaking spree of 2020 and 2021. Now, inhaled therapy specialist Aerami Therapeutics is getting in on the action, just in time to ride the SPAC train into the new year.
Clinical-stage inhaled drug delivery developer Aerami is joining forces with SPAC FoxWayne Enterprises Acquisition in a bid to go public, the companies said.
The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022, will see the combined company retain Aerami's current moniker, Aerami Therapeutics Holdings, with the biopharma's CEO, Steve Thornton, at the helm. Thornton will be joined by the rest of Aerami's current management team, the companies said in a release. The combined firm's common stock is expected to remain listed on the Nasdaq.
With their forces combined, Aerami and FoxWayne expect to have a war chest of $58 million in cash proceeds currently in trust at FoxWayne, plus Aerami's existing cash resources at closing.
Aerami will use the spoils from the deal to propel its lead candidate, AER-901—a combination drug-device prospect in phase 1 testing for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)—into a planned phase 2/3 trial in 2022. The company thinks its drug, which is an inhaled, nebulized formulation of imatinib, could prove to be a disease-modifying therapy in PAH. Aerami estimates the PAH market is worth some $5 billion.
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The drug-device combo is designed to improve drug uptake and deliver consistent levels of nebulized imatinib through once-a-day inhalation on the Fox device, which Aerami licensed from Vectura. The Fox device boasts 510(k) clearance in the U.S. and a CE mark in Europe.
Meanwhile, Aerami also plans to pursue 510(k) clearance for its AFINA inhaler technology platform next year. It hopes the filing will allow it to muscle in on the red-hot smart inhaler market. The company says it will hunt for internal development and AFINA-pipeline partnering opportunities, with a focus on inhaled therapies targeted at large markets with significant unmet needs.
"This transaction is expected to provide significant capital and a platform to accelerate the development of our drug product candidates including taking our lead product, inhaled imatinib for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension, into a planned Phase 2/3 trial in 2022,” Thornton said in a statement.
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Aerami and FoxWayne's boards have given their full blessing to the proposed deal. For the SPAC merger to go through, stockholders of both Aerami and FoxWayne also need to assent.
Aerami isn't the only company getting in on the SPAC action this month. Alvotech, which recently escaped a trade secrets lawsuit related to AbbVie's megablockbuster Humira, is fusing with a SPAC sponsored by Oaktree Capital Management, the Icelandic company said last week. The deal immediately puts Alvotech in line for $450 million in new cash and tees up the company's Nasdaq launch under the "ALVO" tag.