NeuroRX is completing the SPAC merger at a cost of $ 1.5 billion

Israeli drug developer NeuroRX has announced the completion of a merger of a special purpose company (SPAC) with the US company Big Rock Partners Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: BRPAU). The deal reflects the company’s $ 1.5 billion estimate for NeuroRX, and the company will have $ 140 million in cash after the merger. The merged company started trading on Nasdaqu as NrX Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: NRXP).

NeuroRX shareholders will hold 93% of the merged company. NeuroRX was founded by President and CEO Dr. Jonathan Javitt and his brother prof. Daniel Javitt, who invented the company’s technology, who had a 50% stake in NeuroRX before the merger, and their stake in the company will be worth about $ 700 million after the merger. The company currently has no plans to issue new shares nor do existing shareholders plan to sell the shares.

NeuroRX has developed two main treatments. The first, called Zyesami, is designed to treat respiratory failure in the advanced and most severe stages of Covid. The drug is in phase III clinical trials and the company plans to submit it for urgent approval to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before the trial is completed. The goal is to apply for approval in about a month. The Swiss company Relief Therapeutics, which has partnered NeurRX in drug development, trades on the Swiss stock exchange with a market capitalization of about $ 700 million.

In the experiment, the company was asked to show a reduction in coronavirus mortality due to its drug, but could not prove it among a group of patients, although it managed to reduce the number of days spent in hospital and efficiency in other parameters such as recovery days. The company is now conducting a drug trial on slightly ill patients.

Another NeuroRX product is a drug for suicidal bipolar depression. The FDA also describes this as a breakthrough product, so a sorting approval process is expected to follow. The drug has already successfully passed the phase II trial, which showed that patients remain in remission longer after depression after ketamine use, compared to the control group.

Posted by Globes, business news in Israel – en.globes.co.il – May 31, 2021

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