TorreyPines Therapeutics, maker of pain management medication, has skirted failure through a $1.4 million merger deal with Raptor Therapeutics. The deal dictates that Raptor will become a full subsidiary of TorreyPines, which is publicly traded on the Nasdaq, but the new entity will take on the Raptor name, reports VentureWire.
Raptor will continue to advance its product pipeline, which includes treatments for Huntington's disease. TorreyPines will do the same, continuing development on its lead drug candidates -- one for migraines, and the other for acute and chronic pain. The company had purchased the rights to these compounds from Eli Lilly in 2003, and if it had closed, the rights would have been returned.
Novato, Calif.-based TorreyPines had been backed by Alta Partners, Advent International and GIMV. It had raised about $68 million in venture financing before its IPO. It ran into trouble earlier this year when it was unable to land necessary fundraising and partnership deals. The company's board agreed to dissolve it in late May, and it received a letter from the Nasdaq earlier this month notifying it that it did not hit the equity requirement for public listing.
The life-saving merger with Raptor has been approved by both companies' boards, according to Venturewire, and is set to close in the fourth quarter following stockholder approval.