Roche announced Friday that it entered into a definitive merger agreement to fully acquire Ignyta at a price of $27 per share in cash, representing a premium of about 74 percent to its closing price on December 20, for a total transaction value of $1.7 billion.
- Ignyta's lead drug candidate, the oral CNS-active tyrosine kinase inhibitor entrectinib, targets tumours with ROS1 fusions in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) or NTRK fusions across a broad range of solid tumours. The company, which will continue its operations in San Diego, will be responsible for the ongoing Phase II STARTRK-2 trial of entrectinib in patients with ROS1 fusion-positive advanced NSCLC. Interim results unveiled in October showed that first-line targeted therapy with entrectinib led to confirmed objective response rates (ORR) of 78 percent and 69 percent by investigator and blinded independent central review, respectively.
IPO: March 14, 2014
In late 2013, Ignyta completed a reverse merger with Infinity Oil & Gas Company, with the combined company focusing solely on Ignyta's business. Prior to that Ignya garnered a few rounds of venture funding, the largest of which was a $5.5 million Series B financing, which, coupled with a $500,000 capital term loan from Silicon Valley Bank, gave the company a $13 million valuation in February 2013.
