Shares of Cerulean Pharma (NASDAQ: CERU) dropped 60% this morning after the company said it entered a definitive stock purchase agreement with Daré Bioscience, Inc. under which the equityholders of Daré will become the majority owners of Cerulean. The transaction will result in a public, Nasdaq-listed company focused on the development and commercialization of products for women’s reproductive health. Daré’s product candidate, Ovaprene®, is a clinical stage, non-hormonal contraceptive ring for monthly use that potentially addresses a significant unmet need in the $16 billion global contraception market. The combined company will operate under the name Daré; its CEO will be Sabrina Martucci Johnson, the current CEO of Daré. Cerulean has also entered into two agreements for the sale of assets, including its clinical product candidates, CRLX101 and CRLX301, which were sold for $1.5 million to BlueLink Pharmaceuticals. The company also entered into an agreement with Novartis (NYSE: NVS) through which Novartis will acquire all rights to Cerulean’s Dynamic Tumor Targeting™ Platform for $6 million. The proceeds from these agreements will be used to help fund the combined company’s operations. “Based on Daré’s current projections, with proceeds from the sale of Cerulean’s assets, we believe the combined company will be well funded to advance Ovaprene through the completion of a postcoital proof of concept study that is expected to be a value inflection point and is expected to commence following closing of this transaction,” Cerulean president & chief executive officer Christopher D. T. Guiffre stated in the news release.
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About Cerulean Pharma
Cerulean is a company focused on applying the Dynamic Tumor Targeting™ Platform to create nanoparticle-drug conjugates (NDCs) designed to selectively attack tumor cells, reduce toxicity by sparing the body’s normal cells, and enable therapeutic combinations. For more information visit www.ceruleanrx.com.
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