IPD-spinout Neoleukin Therapeutics announced this week a merger with Aquinox Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded company. The combined company will change its name to Neoleukin Therapeutics, and will continue to advance its Rosetta-designed protein platform for cancer, inflammation, and autoimmune diseases.
Neoleukin was spun out of the IPD Translational Investigator Program in January. As a result of this exciting merger, it will be the first publicly traded company in history with a de novo designed protein as its core technology. The new stock ticker will be NASDAQ:NLTX after the deal closes.
As part of the deal, Neoleukin has also gained access to $65 million in capitalization.
“The merger with Aquinox is transformational for our company,” said Neoleukin CEO Jonathan Drachman, MD. “We believe that cytokine mimetics, or Neoleukins, have the potential to offer enhanced therapeutic effects with fewer toxic side effects.”
Senior leadership at Neoleukin still includes three IPD-trainees: Daniel Silva, PhD as VP, Head of Research; Umut Ulge, MD, PhD as VP, Translational Medicine; and Carl Walkey, PhD as VP, Corporate Development. Aquinox’s former stockholders own approximately 61% of the combined company’s capital stock.
To learn more about Neoleukin, visit: www.neoleukin.com
To learn more about their platform technology, see: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0830-7