Cerulean, Novartis deal
Cerulean and Daré will merge in a stock deal; the resulting company will retain Daré's name. Daré’s current CEO, Sabrina Martucci Johnson, will become CEO of the combined company. Daré’s shareholders will own 51-70% of the company, and Cerulean shareholders will own 30-49%. Daré’s Ovaprene, a non-hormonal, intravaginal contraceptive ring containing ferrous gluconate and ascorbic acid, has completed a Phase II trial.
Cerulean said that it sold to Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN, Basel, Switzerland) all platform rights related to the Dynamic Tumor Targeting platform for $6 million. The company also sold all product rights related to the platform to the BlueLink Pharmaceuticals Inc. subsidiary of NewLink Genetics Corp. (NASDAQ:NLNK, Ames, Iowa) for $1.5 million. The products include CRLX101 and CRLX301. Novartis and Cerulean partnered last year to use the platform to develop nanoparticle-drug conjugates (NDCs). The platform is designed to create molecules that attack tumor cells selectively and reduce toxicity (see BioCentury, Oct. 24, 2016)...