Going for aggregation
Rather than close up shop or attempt to rebuild CareX S.A. after failures in the metabolic disease company's preclinical nuclear receptor pipeline, the board opted for an all stock acquisition by private metabolic company 7TM Pharma A/S. While plenty of publicly held metabolic companies could have provided quick liquidity, CareX's VCs decided last week's tie-up is better because they believe 7TM is well positioned for an IPO.
On paper, CareX had received commitments for about $36.5 million since its inception in 2001. But since the company's PPAR modulators have run into undisclosed trouble, investors will not put in about $15.6 million of the money. Nevertheless, the deal brings 7TM an undisclosed amount of cash in addition to CareX's remaining asset, a cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonist in lead optimization for obesity, as well as other undisclosed metabolic programs...