Shares in Roquefort Therapeutics PLC (LSE:ROQ) soared 51% after the London-listed biotech agreed terms to buy Coiled Therapeutics, a US clinical-stage company, in a £30 million all-share deal.
The proposed reverse takeover would give Roquefort ownership of AO-252, an experimental cancer drug targeting the TACC3 protein, which is overexpressed in multiple tumour types.
Early Phase I trial data in the United States have shown encouraging efficacy and safety signals in patients with advanced solid cancers, the company said.
Coiled Therapeutics is a spin-out of A2A Pharmaceuticals, which has previously launched Biomea Fusion, a Nasdaq-listed biotech that reached a market capitalisation of more than $1 billion.
A2A and its investors have committed £6 million of funding to the enlarged group over the next two years.
Roquefort said the acquisition would transform it from a pre-clinical company into one with clinical assets, creating “a clear path to value inflexion”.
Subject to completion, it plans to rebrand as Coiled Therapeutics and shift its listing from the main market to London’s AIM.
Executive chairman Stephen West said AO-252 offered “a fantastic opportunity” and praised its potential as a safer alternative to chemotherapy.
The shares rose 0.85p to 2.50p.