ARS Pharmaceuticals and Silverback Therapeutics Set to Merge into a Single Entity Focused on EpiPen Alternative
ARS Pharmaceuticals has announced a merger with Silverback Therapeutics. Going forward, the combined company will be called ARS Pharmaceuticals.
The newly combined company will focus their expertise on regulatory approval and commercialization of ARS’s epinephrine nasal spray for severe allergic reactions. The spray, called neffy, is a potential easy-to-use alternative to the EpiPen.
The combined company is expected to have $265 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities upon closing, including $240 million in cash from Silverback. Silverback equity holders will own about 37% of the new company, and ARS’s 63%. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, pending stockholder approval.
Silverback made a name for themselves for their experimental solid tumor therapy following a public offering in late 2020. ARS, which raised $55 million in a Series D round of funding last spring, plans to submit its NDA (new drug application) for neffy to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the third quarter of this year. If the spray is approved, the company aims to launch the product in 2023.
The design of this EpiPen alternative would remove the need for needles, making administration less painful in a moment of panic. Less pain means less hesitation means less lives lost.
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