Merger plan with Chemomab sends Anchiano flying

News of a merger deal for Israel-headquartered pre-clinical biopharma firm Anchiano Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ANCN) sent the firm’s shares up as much as 183% early yesterday, and still up 87% at $2.8 by close of trading.

Anchiano’s proposed merger is with Chemomab, a company focussed on fibrosis-related diseases, which would become the majority shareholder in the combined company. The merger will create a public company focused on advancing Chemomab’s lead product, CM-101. On a pro forma basis, current shareholders of Chemomab will own ~90% of the combined company upon closing, prior to the additional PIPE financing transaction.

Shareholders of both companies holding shares sufficient to approve the merger have entered into shareholder support agreements with the respective companies in support of the transaction.