logo-loader

Innate Immunotherapeutics shares surge 250% on cancer therapy acquisition

Published: 03:00 26 Mar 2018 AEDT

missing puzzle piece that reads acquisition
The acquisition gives Innate access to two novel cancer drug candidates

Innate Immunotherapeutics Limited (ASX:IIL) has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire Amplia Therapeutics Pty Ltd.

In acquiring Amplia, Innate will acquire its focal adhesion kinase (FAK) cancer program.

FAK is emerging as a promising target in cancer therapy.

Shares were up as much as 335%

Innate shares have been a rare gainer today in a market that is down heavily across the boards.

The company’s shares reached an intra-day high of 13.5 cents, representing a 335% rise on yesterday’s close of 3.1 cents.

Two FAK targeting drug candidates

Amplia has in-licensed two FAK targeting drug candidates referred to as AMP886 and AMP945.

The drug candidates were originally developed by the Melbourne based Cancer Therapeutics Cooperative Research Centre.

The program is an Australian government initiative supporting end-user driven research collaborations to address the major challenges facing Australia.

Shareholder approval required

Subject to approval by the shareholders of both Innate and Amplia, Innate will acquire all the shares of Amplia in exchange for new shares to be issued by Innate.

Shareholder approval of the proposed transaction will be sought at a general meeting to be held on April 26, 2018 in Sydney.

Following settlement, Amplia shareholders will own 45% of the total issued capital of Innate and Innate expects to have $2 million cash in hand and no debt.

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

11 hours, 26 minutes ago