Pyxis Oncology to Acquire Apexigen

Pyxis Oncology positioned at forefront of Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) development

Commercially and clinically validated APXiMAB platform for antibody generation complements FACT ADC toolkit of linkers, payloads and conjugation chemistries previously obtained from Pfizer

Sotigalimab, a potential best-in-class Phase 2 CD40 agonist, has demonstrated rapid, deep and durable responses across difficult-to-treat tumor types

All-stock deal allows Pyxis Oncology to maintain cash runway into 1H 2025;
PYX-201 and PYX-106 remain on track

Webcast to be held today, May 24, at 9:00 a.m. ET

BOSTON and SAN CARLOS, Calif., May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pyxis Oncology, Inc. (“Pyxis Oncology”) (Nasdaq: PYXS), a clinical-stage company focused on developing next-generation therapeutics to target difficult-to-treat cancers, and Apexigen, Inc. (Nasdaq: APGN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative antibody therapeutics for oncology, today announced a definitive agreement by which Pyxis Oncology will acquire Apexigen in an all-stock transaction for an implied value of $0.64 per Apexigen share. For each share of Apexigen, Pyxis Oncology will issue 0.1725 shares of its common stock, par value $0.001 per share, for a total enterprise value of approximately $16 million.

“This acquisition uniquely positions Pyxis Oncology at the forefront of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) innovation by adding humanized antibody generation to our Flexible Antibody Conjugation Technology (FACT) ADC toolkit acquired from Pfizer, and expands our clinical pipeline into Phase 2 in select solid tumor types by leveraging our founding heritage of immuno-oncology expertise—all while maintaining our cash runway into 2025,” said Lara S. Sullivan, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Pyxis Oncology. “Sotigalimab is a CD40 agonist with best-in-class potential. It has demonstrated clear anti-cancer activity in patients who previously progressed on PD-(L)1 inhibitors, with impressive, durable remissions. This activity may not only be synergistic with immune checkpoint inhibitors, but also rescue their activity in patients who are refractory or have relapsed. We are excited about the potential to acquire the commercially and clinically validated APXiMAB platform to generate novel antibodies that can be optimized for targeted payload delivery. In combination with our proprietary FACT platform, we believe Pyxis Oncology is positioned with an unmatched, end-to-end system for designing and producing novel, next-generation ADC candidates with improved potency, stability and tolerability.”