SESN - Sesen Bio in merger deal with immunotherapy company Carisma Therapeutics
- Cancer-focused biotech Sesen Bio, Inc. ( NASDAQ: SESN ) announced a merger agreement Wednesday with Carisma Therapeutics Inc., a closely held biopharma targeting immunotherapies.
- The all-stock transaction aims to form a combined company under the name Carisma Therapeutics Inc. which will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “CARM.”
- The combined firm, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will be led by Steven Kelly, President and Chief Executive Officer of Carisma.
- Pre-merger Sesen ( SESN ) stockholders will take ~42% of its ownership, while pre-merger Carisma stockholders will own the remainder.
- The transaction is expected to close in the next three to four months, and the combined company will have ~$180M of cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, including a $30M of financing Carisma has secured from a group of investors including HealthCap and AbbVie ( ABBV ).
- The financing deal is expected to close concurrently with the completion of the merger.
- Early this year, Moderna ( MRNA ) and Carisma announced a strategic partnership for chimeric antigen receptor macrophage (CAR-M) therapies targeted at cancer.
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Sesen Bio in merger deal with immunotherapy company Carisma Therapeutics