Aileron Therapeutics Inc has acquired Lung Therapeutics Inc, a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapies for the treatment of orphan pulmonary and fibrosis indications that have no approved or limited effective treatments.
“Lung Therapeutics has built a promising clinical-stage pipeline for life-threatening lung conditions, and we believe in the ability of our combined companies to deliver value to both patients and stockholders,” says Manuel Aivado, MD, PhD, CEO of Aileron, in a release.
Following the acquisition, Aileron entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of shares of Aileron’s Series X non-voting convertible preferred stock and warrants to purchase shares of Aileron’s common stock in a private placement to a group of accredited investors. The private placement is expected to result in gross proceeds to Aileron of approximately $18 million before deducting placement agent fees and other offering expenses.
Aileron intends to use the proceeds from the private placement primarily to complete the ongoing phase 1b clinical study of LTI-03, a Caveolin-1-related peptide in development for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and for general corporate purposes.
LTI-03 is a novel, Caveolin-1-related peptide with a dual mechanism targeting both alveolar epithelial cell survival as well as inhibition of profibrotic signaling, whereas approved drugs for IPF such as nintedanib and treatments in clinical development for IPF have only demonstrated a reduction of profibrotic signaling.
Studies conducted by Lung Therapeutics and third parties have demonstrated that Caveolin-1 is a key protein in the regulation of lung fibrosis and has a decreased expression in IPF patients.
Lung Therapeutics’ preclinical studies, including those of biopsied tissue from IPF patients, have demonstrated a decrease in numerous profibrotic signaling proteins, as well as the ability to protect alveolar epithelial cells.
LTI-03 completed a phase 1a clinical trial in healthy volunteers and is currently in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 1b clinical trial in IPF patients.
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