Wayne, Pa.-headquartered Palvella Therapeutics Inc. said on Dec. 13 it completed its merger with Boston-based biotechnology company Pieris Pharmaceuticals Inc.
The transaction was approved by Pieris stockholders at a special meeting held on Dec. 11, and was previously approved by Palvella stockholders.
The combined company will operate under the name Palvella Therapeutics Inc., and its shares were expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market Dec. 16 under the ticker symbol PVLA.
Palvella will continue to be led by Wes Kaupinen, founder and CEO, as well as other members of the Palvella management team.
“With strong support from leading healthcare-dedicated investors, Palvella is well positioned to enter the public markets and pursue our vision of becoming the leading rare disease company focused on developing and commercializing novel therapies to treat patients suffering from serious, rare genetic skin diseases,” Kaupinen said.
The transaction will enable Palvella — a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing novel therapies to treat patients suffering from serious, rare genetic skin diseases for which there are no federally approved therapies — to accelerate late-stage development of QTORIN™ rapamycin, its lead product candidate, for microcystic LMs and cutaneous VMs, and further advancing additional novel product candidates from its QTORIN™ platform, added Kaupinen.
At the closing of the merger, there are approximately 13.95 million shares of the combined company’s common stock outstanding on a diluted basis, with prior Pieris stockholders owning approximately 11 percent on a diluted basis and prior Palvella stockholders (including investors in the private placement) holding approximately 89 percent of the combined company’s outstanding common stock on a diluted basis.
Concurrent with the merger, Palvella also completed a previously announced oversubscribed $78.9 million private placement co-led by BVF Partners L.P., an existing investor, and Frazier Life Sciences, a new investor, and with participation from a syndicate of leading healthcare-dedicated investors.
Additional new investors include Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Nantahala Capital, DAFNA Capital Management, ADAR1 Capital Management, and a healthcare-dedicated fund.
Existing investors Samsara BioCapital, Petrichor, CAM Capital, Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Integrated Finance Group (an AscellaHealth partner company), BioAdvance, and Gore Range Capital also participated in the financing.
Palvella’s cash and cash equivalents of roughly $80 million is expected to fund operations into the second half of 2027, the company said.