GTXI reverse merger with private firm Oncternal
By Greg Akers – Editor-in-Chief, Memphis Business Journal
4 hours ago
GTx Inc., the publicly traded company founded in Memphis in 1997 to develop new cancer treatments, has entered into a merger agreement that will see it relocated to San Diego.
Stockholders of the privately held biotech firm Oncternal Therapeutics Inc. will become the majority owners of GTx's outstanding common stock — holding about 75 percent of the new company's stock — a news release said.
The company will be still be named Oncternal Therapeutics and will be publicly traded and listed on Nasdaq with the ticker symbol of ONCT.
Oncternal does not anticipate retaining any GTx employees once the merger is completed, according to the release. The biopharmaceutical firm has 27 employees — 25 of them local — according to MBJ research.
GTx is currently headquartered on the 7th floor of 175 Toyota Plaza Downtown. CEO Marc Hanover was the ninth-highest compensated executive in the Memphis area, with a total compensation of $984,000 in 2017.
The new firm will have a war chest of about $26 million if the merger closes as expected by the end of the second quarter of 2019.
Both companies have multiple cancer treatments in the clinical trial pipeline, and the funds would help get some of Oncternal's treatments into advanced phases and closer to applications with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“This transaction with Oncternal reflects the continued commitment of our management team and Board of Directors to deliver value to stockholders and make a difference in patients’ lives,” said Robert J. Wills, executive chairman of GTx. “Following a thorough review of strategic alternatives, we have determined that a reverse merger with Oncternal will enable GTx investors to participate in Oncternal’s broader pipeline of oncology opportunities, including product candidates designed to address rare disease indications, and enable the continued development of our first-in-class SARD technology by a company whose leadership has deep experience in developing oncology medicines.”
Oncternal's CEO, Dr. James Breitmeyer, will retain that title for the combined company.
“This merger introduces Oncternal and its promising oncology pipeline to the public market and provides additional capital resources to advance our programs to potential value inflection points,” Breitmeyer said. "The addition of GTx’s SARD technology strengthens our pipeline and augments our entire oncology franchise, which includes a range of therapeutic approaches for a variety of difficult to treat cancers.”
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