Yumanity Therapeutics Shares Soar on Kineta Deal

By Colin Kellaher

Shares of Yumanity Therapeutics Inc. jumped more than 50% on Monday after the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company unveiled plans for a reverse merger with immuno-oncology company Kineta Inc.

Yumanity said Kineta's shareholders will own about 85% of the combined company, which will adopt the Kineta name and focus on its cancer pipeline, along with Yumanity's 2020 research collaboration with Merck & Co. that is potentially worth more than $500 million.

In a related move, Boston-based Yumanity said it agreed to sell its most advanced product candidate, YTX-7739, and its unpartnered discovery-stage neuroscience product candidates and targets to Johnson & Johnson for $26 million in cash.

Yumanity shares have fallen sharply this year after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration placed a partial clinical hold on studies of YTX-7739 in the progressive nervous-system disorder Parkinson's disease. The stock fell to as low as 95 cents in March, well below its 52-week high of $16.89 reached last June.

Shares of Yumanity, which went public in a reverse merger with Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc. in December 2020, were recently changing hands at $2.14, up nearly 51%.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 06, 2022 10:30 ET (14:30 GMT)

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