Galera Therapeutics, Obsidian Therapeutics enter merger agreement

Galera Therapeutics (GRTX) and Obsidian Therapeutics entered into a definitive merger agreement to combine in an all-stock transaction. The combination will be accomplished by both companies becoming wholly owned subsidiaries of a newly formed company. Upon completion of the transaction, the combined company plans to operate under the name Obsidian Therapeutics, Inc. and will apply to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “OBX.” In support of the transaction, Galera and Obsidian have secured commitments for an oversubscribed private placement financing that is expected to result in total gross proceeds of $350M from a syndicate of new investors, including Balyasny Asset Management, Caligan Partners LP, Eventide Asset Management, Nantahala Capital, Octagon Capital, Redmile, Spruce Street Capital and Trails Edge Capital Partners, and with participation from current Obsidian investors, including Atlas Venture, Deep Track Capital, Foresite Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Logos Capital, Novo Holdings A/S, Paradigm BioCapital Advisors, Pivotal bioVenture Partners, RA Capital Management, RTW Investments, TCGX and Wellington Management, among other leading investment management firms. The private placement financing is expected to close immediately prior to completion of the proposed merger transaction. The combined company’s cash and cash equivalents balance at closing, including the funds from the private placement financing, is anticipated to fund the combined company’s operations into the second half of 2028 and provides runway through key clinical milestones for Obsidian’s lead product candidate, OBX-115. These include Phase 1 data from the ongoing NSCLC trial expected in the first half of 2027, and by year-end 2027, topline data from their melanoma registration-enabling trial. The combined company will also continue to support Galera’s pipeline. Obsidian leverages their cytoDRIVE platform to develop engineered TIL cell therapies. OBX-115 is currently in a Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of advanced melanoma and a Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of NSCLC. OBX-115 is designed with regulatable membrane-bound IL15, which drives TIL persistence, eliminates the need to dose toxic interleukin-2, and enables outpatient administration of low-dose lymphodepletion. Furthermore, OBX-115 can be manufactured using tumor tissue procurement from an outpatient, minimally invasive core needle biopsy. OBX-115 has been granted Fast Track and Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma that is resistant to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Under the terms of the merger agreement, as of the closing of the proposed transaction, the pre-closing Galera stockholders are expected to own approximately 1.8% of the combined company, the pre-closing Obsidian stockholders are expected to own approximately 53.2% of the combined company, and investors in the private placement financing are expected to own approximately 45.0% of the combined company. The percentage of the combined company that Galera’s stockholders will own as of the closing of the proposed transaction is subject to adjustment based on the estimated amount of Galera’s net cash immediately prior to the closing date. The pre-closing Galera stockholders are expected to receive one contingent value right for each outstanding share of Galera common stock held by such stockholder, representing the right to receive contingent payments upon the occurrence of certain events. The transaction has received approval by the Board of Directors of both companies and is expected to close by the third quarter of 2026, subject to certain closing conditions, including, among others, approval by the stockholders of each company, the effectiveness of a registration statement to be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to register the securities to be issued in connection with the proposed acquisitions of Obsidian and Galera and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. The combined company plans to operate under the name Obsidian Therapeutics, Inc. and will be led by Madan Jagasia, Obsidian’s CEO. Obsidian’s Board of Directors will become directors of the combined company, chaired by Maria Fardis, CEO of AirNexis Therapeutics.