Guangzhou Angke Immune Biotechnology Co., Ltd

ROCKVILLE, Md., Sept. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OncoC4, Inc., a late-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines for cancer, and AcroImmune, a biopharmaceutical company developing immunotherapy drugs for malignant tumor and inflammatory disease, today announced that the companies, which are under common control, have entered into a definitive merger agreement to combine in an all-stock transaction (the Merger). Under the terms of the agreements, OncoC4 will acquire 100% of the outstanding equity interests of AcroImmune. Upon completion of the Merger, the combined company is expected to operate under the name OncoC4, Inc., will be headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, and led by Yang Liu, PhD, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Both OncoC4 and AcroImmune were co-founded by Drs. Yang Liu and Pan Zheng and have a similar shareholder base. “This Merger seamlessly bolsters OncoC4’s wholly owned immunotherapy pipeline and adds investigational new drug (IND)-ready PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody AI-081 with best-in-class potential and clinical stage assets with near-term catalysts including next-generation siglec agonist AI-071,” said Yang Liu, PhD, Co-Founder, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of OncoC4. “Additionally, the Merger will also expand OncoC4’s geographical footprint and establish in-house clinical manufacturing capabilities including R&D, clinical, and manufacturing sites in China.” Dr. Liu continued, “Collectively, these synergies further strengthen the potential of OncoC4 to deliver differentiated and novel immunotherapies spanning multiple modalities for difficult to treat solid tumors and hematological malignancies. We look forward to continued advancement across our innovative pipeline with several upcoming early and late-stage clinical milestones over the next 12 months.” Dr. Pan Zheng, MD, PhD, OncoC4’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and cofounder of OncoC4 and AcroImmune added, “A bispecific targeting PD-1 and VEGF holds potential to broaden the horizon of checkpoint therapy across cancers. AI-081 consists of fully owned and high affinity binding motifs to PD-1 and VEGF that are designed to be best in-class among an emerging class of potentially transformative cancer therapies. We are very excited to file an IND application for AI-081 in the fourth quarter of the year.