Key Takeaways:
Avere Therapeutics, a private biotech developing an oral IL-23 drug, will go public through a reverse merger with NextCure, backed by a $320 million private placement from a syndicate including Fairmount and Hansoh Pharmaceutical.
"The combination of the strong clinical data from Hansoh's Phase 1b psoriasis study, the capital raised through this financing from a world-class investor syndicate, and immediate access to the public markets positions us to be highly competitive in the emerging oral IL-23 market," Andrew Cheng, chief executive officer of Avere, said.
The all-stock transaction, expected to close in the second half of 2026, will see the combined company trade on Nasdaq under the ticker AVRX. Pre-merger NextCure stockholders will own about 1.21 percent of the combined entity, while Avere stockholders will own approximately 98.79 percent. Hansoh, which participated in the private placement, is expected to hold between 30 percent and 40 percent of the combined company.
The deal gives Avere immediate access to public markets and a $320 million war chest to advance AVR-001, a once-weekly oral IL-23 receptor antagonist for inflammatory diseases. The company expects the financing to fund operations through a Phase 2b psoriasis readout in the first half of 2028, the start of a Phase 3 psoriasis trial, and a Phase 2b study in ulcerative colitis.
Avere's lead asset, AVR-001, is a cyclic peptide IL-23 receptor antagonist engineered with a half-life of approximately 100 hours, enabling once-weekly oral dosing. In a Phase 1b trial conducted by Hansoh in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, once-weekly AVR-001 achieved Week 4 and Week 8 PASI and PASI 75 responses comparable on a cross-trial basis to a first-generation once-daily oral inhibitor after just four weeks of dosing. The drug was generally well-tolerated, with an adverse event profile supporting continued development.
The licensing agreement with Hansoh grants Avere ex-China rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize AVR-001. Hansoh received $120 million upfront and is eligible for up to $2.18 billion in development and sales milestones, plus mid-single to low-double digit royalties on sales in the licensed territory. A US investigational new drug application for AVR-001 is already open, and Avere plans to initiate a global Phase 2b study in early 2027.
Avere is led by an executive team that previously guided Akero Therapeutics from pre-IPO through its sale to Novo Nordisk for up to $5.2 billion in December 2025. The team includes Chief Development Officer Kitty Yale, Chief Financial Officer William White, and General Counsel Brett Pletcher. The board will be chaired by Cheng and includes Julianne Bruno of Fairmount, two representatives from Hansoh, and Nimish Shah of Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners.
The oral IL-23 market is becoming increasingly competitive. Bristol Myers Squibb's once-daily Sotyktu earned FDA approval for psoriasis in 2022 and recently expanded into psoriatic arthritis. Johnson & Johnson, through its partnership with Protagonist Therapeutics, has a daily oral pill that posted Phase 3 data challenging Sotyktu's efficacy. AbbVie's injectable Skyrizi and J&J's Tremfya remain the standard-of-care blockbusters in the IL-23 space, with combined annual sales exceeding $15 billion.
NextCure shares surged more than 200 percent in premarket trading following the announcement. The company's stockholders will receive a contingent value right entitling them to 90 percent of net proceeds from any future monetization of NextCure's pipeline assets over two years following closing.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
