Quince Therapeutics to acquire EryDel

California, USA-bas biotech Quince Therapeutics (Nasdaq: QNCX) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire EryDel SpA, a privately-held, late-stage biotech company, in a stock-for-stock upfront exchange and potential downstream milestone cash payments.

Italy-headquartered EryDel has developed an autologous intracellular drug encapsulation (AIDE) technology and a Phase III lead asset, EryDex, targeting a rare fatal pediatric neurological disease, ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T), which currently has no approved treatments and an estimated billion-dollar peak sales opportunity, said Quince, which earlier this year itself rejected an unsolicited takeover bid from Echo Lake Capital.

Quince’s shares were down 18% at $1.29 in early regular trading, having risen as much as 21% to $1.91 in pre-market activity.