** Shares of drug developer Neoleukin Therapeutics fall 12.4% to $0.81

** Privately held genetic medicines company Neurogene Inc and NLTX say they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to combine the companies in an all-stock transaction

** Upon completion of the merger, the combined company is expected to operate under the name Neurogene Inc and trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "NGNE" -NLTX

** Combined company will focus on development of Neurogene's experimental gene therapy for a rare developmental disorder, Rett syndrome - NLTX

** The merger is expected to close in Q4 2023

** Including session moves, NLTX shares rose ~68% YTD

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru)

((Mariam.ESunny@thomsonreuters.com;))