Silverback Therapeutics and ARS Pharma to merge

USA-based biopharma firm Silverback Therapeutics (Nasdaq: SBTX) and ARS Pharmaceuticals have entered into a definitive agreement under which ARS will merge with Silverback in an all-stock transaction.

Shares of Silverback traded down more than 10% to $3.94 in after-hours activity yesterday. Earlier this year the company also fell back, when it announced that it is shutting down its targeted oncology programs and cutting its workforce by 27% as it refocuses resources on developing chronic hepatitis B drugs and its ImmunoTAC drug discovery platform. It also reported a net loss of $89.5 million for 2021 compared to a net loss of $32.9 million in 2020.

The combined company will focus on the potential regulatory approval and commercialization of neffy, ARS’s investigational epinephrine nasal spray for the treatment of Type I allergic reactions including anaphylaxis.