They say stick to what you know. And Paragon Therapeutics knows how to do reverse mergers.
In a deal
announced
Tuesday, the hub-and-spoke biologics company is moving its migraine drug offshoot Mentari Therapeutics onto the public markets through a takeover of InMed Pharmaceuticals.
Paragon has taken eight companies public, and seven of those have been through reverse mergers, in which a private company acquires an often-struggling public one and takes its place on the exchange, bypassing the IPO process.
The Mentari-InMed transaction includes a $290 million private placement from some of the most well-known biotech investors. Fairmount, Deep Track Capital, a16z Bio + Health, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, TCGX, RTW Investments and other leading names participated.
Those concurrent private placement investors will own about 69% of the combined business following the all-stock deal, according to a corporate
presentation
. InMed stockholders will retain only 1.51% and existing Mentari shareholders will own about 30%. The company will continue to trade on the Nasdaq.
InMed had fallen into penny stock territory before the deal. The Vancouver-based company had been working on CB1/CB2-targeted small molecules for Alzheimer’s, ocular disease and dermatological conditions. It also had a cannabinoid supply subsidiary called BayMedica, which will
wind down
.
A few biotechs have chosen the reverse merger route this year, including Orphai Therapeutics’ move
to take the place
of Quince Therapeutics. T cell engager biotech Candid Therapeutics, meanwhile, nixed its reverse merger in favor of a $2 billion upfront sale to UCB. Eleven biotechs have elected to take the traditional IPO route this year.
Paragon’s playbook has been to develop biologics that iterate on already-approved medicines or late-stage experimental therapies, and Mentari is no different. It’s chasing already-approved drugs in the CGRP class as well as an investigational approach to migraines that Lundbeck and others are leading.
Mentari will begin with a monoclonal antibody called MT-001. It plans to ask for clinical trial clearance in the middle of this year, collect Phase 1 data in the middle of 2027, and then Phase 2a proof-of-concept data in 2028, according to a corporate presentation.
MT-001 targets pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptides, or PACAPs. Abnormal signaling can drive pain, inflammation and migraines. Lundbeck unveiled Phase 2b data for its IV-delivered PACAP drug,
bocunebart
(Lu AG09222), earlier this year. Lundbeck’s executive vice president of R&D Johan Luthman has previously said the new class of medicines could potentially address a “broader spectrum of migraine biology.” Eli Lilly
dropped
a monoclonal antibody in this space in 2022.
Mentari plans to build on that approach by pairing it with the established CGRP class. The company is developing a bispecific antibody that targets both CGRP and PACAP. Known as MT-002, it is slated for Phase 1 next year and Phase 2a proof-of-concept data by the end of 2028.
The company doesn’t appear to have an executive team yet. Its board chair is Fairmount growth partner Julie Bruno. Fairmount is the main investor in Paragon, which has its own C-suite that guides the early development of its biotech spinouts.
Bruno said the recent anti-PACAP studies have “validated this novel mechanism and generated tremendous excitement among headache specialists.” The deal will allow Mentari to “aggressively compete in what we believe will be the next era of migraine prevention,” she said in a press release.