Entero Therapeutics Announces Proposed Reverse Merger With Journey Therapeutics

Entero Therapeutics, Inc. recently announced it has entered into a binding term sheet for a reverse merger transaction with Journey Therapeutics, Inc. Upon completion of the Proposed Merger, the shareholders of Journey will acquire 99% of the equity of Entero. The combined company is expected to operate under the name Journey Therapeutics, Inc., and will apply for continued trading on The Nasdaq Capital Market. The completion of the Proposed Merger is subject to several conditions, including the negotiation of definitive agreements, the receipt by Entero of at least $5 million of equity financing, the effectiveness of a registration statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the approval of the stockholders of Entero.

Following the completion of the Proposed Merger, the new entity would be under the leadership of Henry Ji, PhD, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Journey Therapeutics. It is contemplated that the combined company will prioritize advancing Journey’s first-in-class, next-gen NIC product candidates targeting gynecological cancers, advanced non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other difficult to treat cancers, alongside Entero’s existing clinical assets. These existing assets include a latiglutenase, a pioneering oral biotherapeutic for celiac disease, adrulipase, a recombinant lipase enzyme for cystic fibrosis and chronic pancreatitis, and capeserod, a selective 5HT-4 receptor partial agonist, all of which would continue undergoing clinical development.

“The Proposed Merger with Journey Therapeutics presents an exceptional opportunity for Entero, bringing groundbreaking NIC technology and invaluable expertise under the leadership of Dr. Henry Ji,” said James Sapirstein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Entero Therapeutics. “Journey’s innovative, first-in-class therapies hold tremendous potential and, after the proposed merger is completed, we are excited to accelerate the key steps to initiate critical clinical trials. This transaction would position us to make significant strides in the oncology sector, tapping into a multibillion-dollar global market and advancing potentially life-changing therapies for patients.”

“Journey looks forward to this proposed merger with Entero Therapeutics, as it allows us to build a publicly traded company that is driven toward advancing Journey’s first-in-class, next-gen nano-immunoconjugates portfolio to rival the advanced antibody-drug conjugates products,” added Henry Ji, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Journey Therapeutics. “This opportunity arises at a momentous stage in Journey’s development, as we prepare for clinical trials of our two leading assets with encouraging initial clinical results.”

Journey is a clinical-stage, biopharmaceutical company pioneering advanced cancer therapies that leverage nanotechnology and immunotherapy. Rivalling antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), its NIC platform is designed to target tumors precisely, delivering therapeutic agents directly to cancer cells with minimal impact on surrounding healthy tissue. By combining nanotechnology with immunoconjugates, Journey has developed technology that permits modular antibody-based targeting and tailored chemotherapeutic selection, potentially leading to more effective and less toxic treatment of a variety of cancer types. This innovative approach holds tremendous promise for the future of precision oncology. As described by the inventor, Svetomir N. Markovic, MD, PhD (Mayo Clinic), the NIC platform seeks to usher the next generation of antibody-drug complex therapeutics to enable simultaneous multi-drug delivery to multiple cancer targets. Early, Phase 1 clinical data with two prototype NICs engineered to treat end-stage metastatic ovarian/endometrial cancer (targeting VEGF) or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (targeting CD20) have shown highly encouraging results in clinical efficacy and safety.

Entero Therapeutics, Inc., is a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of targeted, non-systemic therapies for gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. The Company’s programs address significant unmet needs in GI health and include: latiglutenase, potentially first-in-class, targeted, oral biotherapeutic for celiac disease; capeserod, a selective 5-HT4 receptor partial agonist for indications including gastroparesis; and adrulipase, a recombinant lipase enzyme designed to enable the digestion of fats and other nutrients in cystic fibrosis and chronic pancreatitis patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. For more information, visit www.enterothera.com.

Journey Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a portfolio of antibody-coated nanoparticle albumin-bound (NAB or nab) paclitaxel (the Nano-immunoconjugates/NIC) for the treatment of various cancers. Invented by Svetomir Markovic, MD, PhD, at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the clinically-validated NIC platform, a next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) rivalling platform, complexes tumor targeting, immune modulating and/or tumor-suppressing monoclonal antibodies and nab-paclitaxel into a pipeline of innovative drug products for unmet medical needs.

Invented by Svetomir Markovic, MD, PhD, at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the clinically-validated NIC platform is a proprietary next-generation antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) rivalling therapeutic technology and offers a number of advantages over existing ADC approaches, including:

• Delivering more drugs specifically to tumors, through a Drug/Antibody ratio which is 100-fold greater than traditional ADC;
• Clinically proven superior antitumor efficacy to traditional combination therapy with similar Pharmacokinetics (PK), and safety profile to traditional ADC;
• Enabling facile creation of multiple product opportunities with a single streamlined process;
• Modular “mixing and matching” of a monoclonal antibody library and a toxin library for new NICs to select NICs with superior efficacy in preclinical studies with competitive advantage against monotherapy with antibody or chemotherapy; and
• Exploring almost all commercial therapeutic NABs to achieve life-cycle management for marketed therapeutic antibodies with expired or expiring patents.