In the current trading session, Athenex Inc. (ATNX) shares surged by 38.27% to the price of $5.13 at the last check. ATNX stock previously closed at $3.71. The ATNX stock volume traded 187.08 million shares, while the average three-month trading volume has been 3.31M. In the past year, up-to-date ATNX shares have slumped by -59.05% and the ATNX stock has furthermore slumped -10.17% in the past week. In the past three and six months, the ATNX stock shed -73.42% and-67.46%. Furthermore, Athenex Inc. has a current value in the market worth $351.00 million and has 93.39 million outstanding shares.
What is recently happening in Athenex Inc.?
Athenex Inc (NASDAQ: ATNX) announced on 4th May 2021, that it has acquired the leading developer of off-the-shelf CAR-NKT cell immunotherapies. This company is known as Kuur Therapeutics, Inc. which develops treatments for solid and hematological malignancies.
Athenex is looking forward to working and collaborating with Kuur Therapeutics and bringing its innovative platform to Athenex’s own. The potential of this platform merging with the TCR program of Athenex can significantly climb the combined company to a leading position in the cell therapy market. Athenex had eyed this deal for other possible collaboration and combined resource synergy for future pipeline deals.
The Athenex has the first generation of cell therapy treatments that are focused on autologous CAR-T. However, these cell therapy treatments have limitations. These limitations are exactly why Kuur Therapeutics’ NKT cell platform can become significantly relevant. The NKT cell platform when combined with the TCR program, can bring out innovative new approaches for the NKT cell platform which can provide a solution to address the known limitations associated with the cell therapy treatments.
News of the Athenex-Kuur merger has surged the ATNX stock
CAR-NKT cells are unique compared to other cell therapy-based immune effector cells due to their certain advantages over them. The acceleration of providing effective treatment for solid and hematological tumors will give Athenex operations and stock an edge in the cell therapy market. Investors are rounding up towards this newly found potential and hoping for operation and profit growth in the company as well as improvement in the performance of ATNX stock. The news of the acquisition caused the ATNX stock to rise in the premarket trading session today.
Definitive agreements in the merger deal
The agreement undersigns Athenex to an upfront payment of $70 million to Kuur Therapeutics’s shareholders which also includes certain former employees and directors. This consists primarily of equity in ATNX common stock. Athenex has also made it eligible for the shareholders to receive up to $115 million of milestone payments. The company will offer these payments in either cash or common stock provision which is at its sole discretion.
