NEW YORK – Cancer cell therapy company Coeptis Therapeutics said on Monday that it has merged with special purpose acquisition company Bull Horn Holdings, resulting in its listing being moved to the Nasdaq Global Market.
Following the merger, which was initially announced in April, Coeptis has been renamed Coeptis Therapeutics Holdings and has been listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbols COEP and COEPW for its shares and warrants, respectively.
The firm previously traded on the OTC Pink sheets. Its shares closed at $3.35 on Friday and opened at $9 on the Nasdaq today. In afternoon trade, the newly merged firm's stock traded down 28 percent at $8.60.
"Uplisting to Nasdaq is a key aspect of our goal to drive long-term shareholder value by potentially augmenting our visibility within the investment community to increase the liquidity of our stock and broaden our shareholder base," David Mehalick, CEO and chairman of the newly merged company, said in a statement.
Former stockholders of Coeptis now own roughly 88 percent of the new company, whereas existing Bull Horn shareholders own the other 12 percent. Prior Coeptis stockholders exchanged their Coeptis common stock for Bull Horn common stock at a rate of roughly 2.97 to 1. The newly combined company now has about 19.5 million common shares issued and outstanding.
The merged firm plans to advance its cell therapy platforms for patients with cancer. In partnership with VyGen-Bio, Coeptis is developing an autologous cell therapy called CD38-GEAR-NK, as well as an in vitro diagnostic to detect CD38 expression, dubbed CD38-Diagnostic.
CD38-GEAR-NK is designed to be used in combination with anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies to treat cancers including multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and acute myeloid leukemia. The diagnostic, meanwhile, is designed as a potential screening tool to determine which patients are most likely to benefit from the monoclonal antibodies alone or in combination with the cell therapy.
Ellenoff Grossman & Schole is Bull Horn's legal adviser in the deal, and Meister Seelig & Fein is Coeptis' legal adviser. JonesTrading Institutional Services provided Bull Horn with capital markets advisory services, while Bridgeway Capital Partners advised Coeptis about the business combination.