Drug delivery developer Starton, SPAC Healthwell agree to merge
Abu Hanifah
Starton Therapeutics, a developer of continuous drug delivery technology, plans to go public through a merger with SPAC Healthwell Acquisition Corp. I (NASDAQ:HWEL).
The deal pegs the enterprise value of the combined company at $339M and the equity value at $374M, assuming 86% of Healthwell's publicly traded shares are redeemed.
Based in New Jersey, Starton had developed technology for the continuous delivery of approved therapies for blood cancers such as multiple myeloma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The biotech hopes to use $50M of the expected net proceeds from the deal to fund clinical trials.
The merger is expected to close during the second half of the year. Shares of the combined company are anticipated to trade on Nasdaq, according to the companies.