REG-Arix Bioscience PLC Portfolio Company Imara Announces Merger Agreement with Enliven Therapeutics

Arix BioscienceAnnouncement

14/10/2022 07:00

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   Arix Bioscience PLC (ARIX)
   Portfolio Company Imara Announces Merger Agreement with Enliven
   Therapeutics

   14-Oct-2022 / 07:00 GMT/BST
   Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by EQS Group.
   The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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                              Arix Bioscience plc

    

        Portfolio Company Imara Announces Merger Agreement with Enliven
                                  Therapeutics

                                        

   Merger to create a Nasdaq-listed, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
     focused on advancing Enliven’s pipeline of precision oncology product
                                   candidates

                                        

   Transaction to concurrently raise approximately $165 million in a private
   financing co-led by new investors Fairmount and Venrock Healthcare Capital
           Partners, with participation from additional new investors

    

   LONDON, 14 October 2022: Arix Bioscience plc (LSE: ARIX), a global venture
   capital  company  focused  on  investing  in  breakthrough   biotechnology
   companies, notes that its portfolio company, Imara Inc. (“Imara”) (Nasdaq:
   IMRA), has  entered  into  a  definitive  merger  agreement  with  Enliven
   Therapeutics, Inc. (“Enliven”)  to create  a Nasdaq-listed  clinical-stage
   biopharmaceutical  company  in  an  all-stock  transaction.  The  combined
   company will focus on advancing  Enliven’s pipeline of precision  oncology
   product candidates.  Upon shareholder  approval, the  combined company  is
   expected to operate under the name Enliven Therapeutics, Inc. and trade on
   the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ELVN.

    

   In support of the merger, Enliven also intends to raise approximately $165
   million  in  a  concurrent  private  financing  co-led  by  new  investors
   Fairmount and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, with participation from
   additional new  investors, which  include Fidelity  Management &  Research
   Company, RA  Capital  Management,  Frazier  Life  Sciences  and  Commodore
   Capital. With the  cash expected from  both companies at  closing and  the
   proceeds of  the planned  concurrent financing,  the combined  company  is
   currently expected to  have approximately  $300 million of  cash and  cash
   equivalents at closing, after transaction expenses. The cash resources are
   expected to  be  used  to  advance  Enliven’s  pipeline  through  multiple
   clinical milestones and provide runway into early 2026.

    

   Robert Lyne, CEO of Arix Bioscience,  stated: “The merger of Enliven  with
   Imara will bring  a differentiated, clinical  stage pipeline of  precision
   oncology assets to the public market. We are pleased to note that with the
   proposed financing backed by a group  of top tier investors, the  combined
   company will  be well  funded  with sufficient  cash to  achieve  multiple
   clinical development milestones into 2026.”

    

    

                                      ENDS 

   For more information on Arix, please contact:

    

   Arix Bioscience plc

   +44 (0)20 7290 1050

    1 ir@arixbioscience.com

    

   Powerscourt Group

   Sarah MacLeod, Ibrahim Khalil, Nick Johnson

   +44 (0)20 7250 1446

    

   Notes to Editors

    

   About Enliven Therapeutics, Inc.

   Enliven Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused
   on the  discovery and  development of  small molecule  inhibitors to  help
   patients with cancer  live not only  longer, but better.  Enliven aims  to
   address existing  and  emerging  unmet needs  with  a  precision  oncology
   approach that improves survival  and enhances overall patient  well-being.
   Enliven’s  discovery  process  combines  deep  insights  from   clinically
   validated  biological  targets  and  differentiated  chemistry  to  design
   potentially first-in-class or best-in-class therapies. Enliven is based in
   Boulder, Colorado.

    

   About Enliven’s Precision Oncology Portfolio

   Enliven is  a clinical-stage  precision oncology  company focused  on  the
   discovery and development of  potentially best-in-class or  first-in-class
   precision oncology therapies. Enliven’s  programs are designed to  address
   issues such as tolerability, combinability, resistance and disease  escape
   through brain metastases. Enliven is  advancing two parallel lead  product
   candidates:

    

   ELVN-001: Enliven’s most advanced candidate, ELVN-001, is a potent, highly
   selective, small molecule kinase inhibitor designed to specifically target
   the BCR-ABL  gene fusion,  the  oncogenic driver  for patients  with  CML.
   Although the approval of BCR-ABL TKIs has improved the life expectancy  of
   patients with  CML  significantly, tolerability,  safety,  resistance  and
   patient convenience concerns  have become more  prominent as patients  can
   now expect to live on therapy for decades. These issues can result in  the
   loss of molecular response and  disease progression for many patients  and
   drive approximately 20%  of patients  to switch therapy  within the  first
   year and  approximately 40%  to switch  in the  first 5  years.  Enliven’s
   preclinical studies showed that  ELVN-001 does not meaningfully  interfere
   with  the  activity  of  kinases  that  we  believe  limit  efficacy   and
   tolerability  of  approved   ATP-competitive  TKIs.  Additionally,   given
   ELVN-001's mechanism of action, it potentially represents a  complementary
   option to allosteric  BCR-ABL inhibitors, which  may play an  increasingly
   important role in the standard of  care. ELVN-001 was also designed to  be
   efficacious against the T315I mutation, the most common BCR-ABL  mutation,
   which  confers  resistance  to  nearly  all  approved  TKIs.  Importantly,
   ELVN-001 was designed  to be a  more attractive option  for patients  with
   comorbidities, on concomitant  medications or desiring  more freedom  from
   stringent  administration  requirements.   ELVN-001  is  currently   being
   evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical

   trial   in   adults    with   CML.   To    learn   more,   please    visit
   www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05304377).

    

   ELVN-002: Enliven’s  second  product  candidate, ELVN-002,  is  a  potent,
   selective and irreversible  HER2 inhibitor with  activity against  various
   HER2  mutations,  including  Exon  20  insertion  mutations  (E20IMs)   in
   non-small cell  lung cancer  (NSCLC),  for which  there are  currently  no
   approved small molecule inhibitors. ELVN-002  is designed to inhibit  HER2
   and key  mutations of  HER2,  while sparing  wild-type EGFR  and  avoiding
   EGFR-related toxicities. Enliven believes  that if ELVN-002 achieves  this
   profile, it will be able to achieve an improved therapeutic index compared
   to current  approved  and  investigational  TKIs  as  well  as  provide  a
   meaningful therapeutic option  to patients  with brain  metastases, a  key
   mechanism of resistance to  current therapies in  patients with NSCLC  and
   other HER2 driven diseases.  While the initial focus  for this program  is
   for HER2 mutant NSCLC, Enliven intends  to seek to expand the  opportunity
   to patients with  other HER2 mutations  as well as  HER2 amplified  tumors
   including breast, colorectal, and gastric cancers.

    

   In addition  to  its  two  lead  programs,  Enliven  is  pursuing  several
   additional research stage  opportunities that align  with its  development
   approach. Enliven  is  in the  process  of screening  and  optimizing  the
   chemistry for multiple programs  and expects to  make a product  candidate
   nomination for its third program in the first half of 2023.

    

   About Arix Bioscience plc

   Arix Bioscience  plc  is  a  global venture  capital  company  focused  on
   investing in  breakthrough  biotechnology  companies  around  cutting-edge
   advances in life sciences.

   We collaborate  with exceptional  entrepreneurs and  provide the  capital,
   expertise, and  global  networks  to  help  accelerate  their  ideas  into
   important new treatments for patients. As a listed company, we are able to
   bring this exciting  growth phase of  our industry to  a broader range  of
   investors.  2 www.arixbioscience.com

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   ISIN:           GB00BD045071
   Category Code:  PFU
   TIDM:           ARIX
   LEI Code:       213800OVT3AHQCXNIX43
   OAM Categories: 3.1. Additional regulated information required to be
                   disclosed under the laws of a Member State
   Sequence No.:   194477
   EQS News ID:    1463613


    
   End of Announcement EQS News Service

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