GTx and Oncternal Therapeutics Enter into Definitive Merger Agreement
Merger will combine Oncternal?s clinical stage oncology pipeline and expertise with GTx?s preclinical Selective Androgen Receptor Degrader (SARD) program for castration-resistant prostate cancer
-- Conference call to be held today at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time/5:30 a.m. Pacific Time --
MEMPHIS, Tenn. and SAN DIEGO,??--?GTx, Inc.?(Nasdaq: GTXI) and Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company developing potential first-in-class therapeutic candidates for cancers with critical unmet medical need, today jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which the stockholders of Oncternal would become the majority owners of GTx?s outstanding common stock. The proposed merger will create a publicly-traded, clinical-stage oncology company.
The combined company will be named Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. and plans to change its ticker symbol on the Nasdaq Capital Market to ONCT upon closing of the transaction.
The combined company will have a strong balance sheet and deep pipeline of promising oncology drug programs advancing in development:
- Oncternal?s lead program, cirmtuzumab, is an investigational, potential first-in-class anti-ROR1 monoclonal antibody. Cirmtuzumab is currently in a Phase 1/ 2 clinical trial in combination with ibrutinib for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). In addition, an investigator-initiated Phase 1 clinical trial of cirmtuzumab in combination with paclitaxel for women with metastatic breast cancer is being conducted at the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego).
- TK216, an investigational, potential first-in-class small molecule designed to inhibit the biological activity of ETS-family transcription factor oncoproteins, is being evaluated alone and in combination with vincristine in a Phase 1 clinical trial in patients with relapsed or refractory Ewing sarcoma.
- A ROR-1 targeted chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) program is in preclinical development at UC San Diego for hematologic and solid tumors.
- A Selective Androgen Receptor Degrader (SARD) program, an investigational, potential first-in-class preclinical program designed for oral administration to treat castration-resistant prostate cancer in men who are non-responsive to current androgen targeted therapies.
About Oncternal Therapeutics
Oncternal Therapeutics is a clinical-stage oncology company developing first-in-class and novel therapies for both rare and common cancers by focusing on targets that are differentially expressed by cancer cells. The company is leveraging its scientific and development expertise, as well as academic collaborations, to rapidly advance its two pipeline products,?cirmtuzumab, an anti-ROR1 monoclonal antibody, and?TK216, a small molecule that inhibits the biological activity of ets-family transcription factor oncoproteins. In a collaboration with UC San Diego, Oncternal is developing a chimeric antigen receptor expressing T cell (CAR-T) targeting ROR1.INVESTOR CONTACT
James Breitmeyer
Oncternal Therapeutics
T: 858-434-1113
E:?jbreitmeyer@oncternal.com