By Kathryn Hardison

Imara Inc. and Enliven Therapeutics Inc. have agreed to merge in an all-stock deal.

The companies said Thursday the combined company, which will be called Enliven Therapeutics Inc., will focus on Enliven's pipeline of precision oncology product candidates. The company will trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ELVN, they said.

Shareholders of both companies still need to approve the merger, though Imara and Enliven said they expect the deal to close in the first quarter of next year.

The combined company is expected to have about $300 million of cash and cash equivalents at closing, after transaction expenses. That should advance Enliven's pipeline through multiple clinical milestones and provide runway into early 2026, the companies said.

Enliven is a clinical-stage company that is advancing two parallel lead product candidates. Its ELVN-001 is designed for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, and ELVN-002 is meant for the treatment of HER2 mutant lung cancer and other HER2-driven tumor types.

Enliven also plans to raise about $165 million in a concurrent private financing. The financing will be co-led by new investors Fairmount and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, with participation from additional new investors including Fidelity Management & Research Co., RA Capital Management, Frazier Life Sciences and Commodore Capital. All existing Enliven investors will also participate, the companies said.

Write to Kathryn Hardison at kathryn.hardison@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 13, 2022 17:06 ET (21:06 GMT)

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