Benzinga | May 17, 2021 07:01AM EDT

Aerpio Pharmaceuticals and Aadi Bioscience Enter into a Definitive Merger Agreement; Financial Terms Not Disclosed

* Transaction to create Nasdaq-listed company focused on advancing Aadi Bioscience's late-stage pipeline for genetically-defined cancers with alterations in mTOR pathway genes

* Concurrent $155 million PIPE financing is backed by leading life science investors led by Acuta Capital Partners and KVP Capital and including Avoro Capital Advisors; Avoro Ventures; Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners; BVF Partners, L.P.; Vivo Capital; Alta Bioequities, L.P.; Rock Springs Capital; RTW Investments, LP; Acorn Bioventures; and Serrado Capital LLC

* Combined company cash at closing will fund operations into 2024 Rolling NDA submission to the FDA for FYARROTM in advanced malignant perivascular epithelioid sarcoma (PEComa) expected to be completed in mid-2021

* FYARROTM preliminary data in patients with solid tumors harboring inactivating alterations in the mTOR pathway genes TSC1 and TSC2 to be presented at ASCO 20211

* FYARROTM tumor-agnostic registrational trial in solid tumors harboring inactivating alterations in the mTOR pathway genes TSC1 and TSC2 expected to be initiated by the end of 2021