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Auris Medical Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ:EARS), a clinical-stage company dedicated to developing therapeutics that address important unmet medical needs in neurotology, rhinology and allergy and CNS disorders, today announced the acquisition of privately held Trasir Therapeutics, Inc. ("Trasir"), based in Tampa, FL, a pioneer in extrahepatic oligonucleotide delivery. The purchase price comprises 0.77 million common shares of the acquiring Company, the assumption of certain selling shareholders' cash outlays as well as a future share-based payment contingent on reaching a specific development milestone. The transaction, which closed on June 1, 2021, is the starting point for a strategic repositioning under which the Company intends to focus on the development of RNA therapeutics while in the medium term aiming to spin off or divest its existing assets in neurotology, rhinology and allergology. Dr. Samuel Wickline, Trasir's founder and Professor of Medicine, has been appointed Chief Scientific Officer and joined the Company's leadership team.
Repositioning the Company to focus on emerging RNA therapeutic opportunities
"Following a thorough review of various strategic options, we are very excited to enter with the Trasir acquisition the field of oligonucleotide delivery, which we believe will provide us with a new range of RNA-based therapeutics with disruptive potential", commented Thomas Meyer, Auris Medical's founder, Chairman and CEO. "The global market for RNA therapeutics has been growing fast, exceeding $1 billion in 2020. However, appropriate delivery technologies have remained a key rate-limiting step for unlocking their potential. Trasir's groundbreaking OligoPhore technology allows for effective delivery of RNA payloads to tissues beyond the liver, which is inadequately addressed with current delivery approaches. We look forward to applying OligoPhore for the development of truly innovative RNA therapeutics and advancing them to clinical proof of concept." He added: "Although we continue to believe that our existing business holds great promise, we acknowledge investors' preferences for highly focused company strategies. Therefore, we will prepare for its separation either through a divestiture or a spin-off to shareholders within the next 12-18 months. Through the strategic repositioning and transformation of the Company, we aim to unlock and create significant shareholder value."
Overcoming key challenges in RNA delivery
Trasir was founded in 2014 by Dr. Wickline based on extensive NIH-sponsored research on technologies that enable safe and effective oligonucleotide delivery to extrahepatic tissues at Washington University, St. Louis MO. Its core technology is the proprietary peptide polyplex platform OligoPhoreTM that can engage any type of RNA in rapid self-assembly. OligoPhoreTM allows for safe and effective systemic delivery of oligonucleotide payloads with efficient cellular uptake and full endosomal release. Importantly, OligoPhoreTM enables delivery to target tissues outside the liver, creating the potential for developing RNA-based therapies for a range of indications with substantial unmet need.
In various murine models of disease, OligoPhoreTM has been shown to protect the RNA payload (siRNA and/or mRNA) from degradation in the circulation, while enabling pH-dependent nucleotide endosomal escape and cytoplasmic delivery. Proof-of-concept for efficient delivery and target knockdown has been demonstrated for targets in the NF-kB family, various members of the ETS transcription factor family, and targets in the JNK and TAM pathways, enabling a preclinical development pathway for several oncology indications, rare diseases, as well as rheumatoid and osteoarthritis and inflammatory pathologies such as atherosclerosis.
Based on the extensive work of Dr Wickline and collaborators, the Company intends to initiate under project code AM-401 the preclinical development of the first pipeline program in an oncology or rare disease indication. The submission of an IND is targeted for the end of 2022. In parallel, the Company will explore further potential applications of the OligoPhoreTM platform for delivery of siRNA, mRNA and gene editing constructs, and seek to leverage the platform's potential through strategic partnering.
Proposed change of Company name to reflect new strategic focus
To reflect the Company's strategic repositioning, the Board of Directors of Auris Medical Holding Ltd. intends to call an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to propose to change its corporate name to Altamira Therapeutics Ltd. Upon approval of the proposed name change, the Company's shares will start trading under the ticker symbol "CYTO" – the word root for cell in ancient Greek – instead of "EARS". In addition, the Board intends to propose the election of Margrit Schwarz, PhD, MBA, as an additional Board member. Margrit Schwarz brings with her 25 years of experience in drug discovery and development across multiple indications and modalities, acquired in the global biopharmaceutical industry (Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, Genevant) and in international academic research settings.
Posted In: EARS
