NEW YORK – Neurogene announced that its shares will begin trading under the ticker symbol "NGNE" upon the Nasdaq Global Market opening on Tuesday following the closing of its merger with Neoleukin Therapeutics.
In July, Neurogene had announced it would merge with Neoleukin in an all-stock transaction to advance Neurogene's portfolio of genetic medicines for rare neurological diseases. At that time, the company had also announced an oversubscribed financing round aimed at raising $95 million.
On Tuesday, New York-based Neurogene said it had closed that financing round, which was led by new and existing healthcare-focused specialist and mutual fund institutional investors, including Great Point Partners, EcoR1 Capital, Redmile Group, Samsara BioCapital, and Janus Henderson Investors, as well as by funds and accounts managed by Blackrock, Casdin Capital, Avidity Partners, Arrowmark Partners, Cormorant Asset Management, Alexandria Venture Investments, and an unnamed healthcare investment fund. Neurogene CEO and Founder Rachel McMinn said in a statement that the funds will allow the firm to expand an ongoing Phase I/II clinical trial of its gene therapy NGN-401 next year in pediatric patients with Rett syndrome as well as present data readouts in Q4 2024 and in the second half of 2025.
In connection with the merger, Neoleukin implemented a reverse stock split of its common stock at a 1-for-4 shares ratio to ensure the combined company's compliance with the $4.00 per share minimum bid price requirement for its initial listing on the Nasdaq. According to the terms of the merger, each outstanding share of Neurogene common stock was converted into 0.0756 shares of Neoleukin common stock. At closing, there were approximately 16,887,060 shares of the combined company's common stock outstanding, and Neurogene stockholders, including investors in the private placement, now own approximately 84 percent, and prior Neoleukin stockholders own around 16 percent of the combined company's outstanding securities.
TD Cowen is Neurogene's exclusive financial adviser and TD Cowen and Stifel are its placement agents for the private financing. Gibson Dunn & Crutcher is Neurogene's legal counsel, and Cooley is legal counsel to the placement agents. Leerink Partners is the exclusive financial adviser to Neoleukin, and Fenwick & West is its legal counsel.
Neurogene said it has $200 million in cash, cash equivalents, and investments, which it expects will fund operations until the second half of 2026 and allow it to achieve several milestones.