Pyxis Oncology Completes its Acquisition of Clinical-stage Biopharma Company, Apexigen

Pyxis Oncology, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative antibody therapeutics for oncology, announced the successful completion of its acquisition of Apexigen, Inc. (Apexigen), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative antibody therapeutics for oncology, in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $10.7 million. With a platform that now includes four key components: novel humanised antibody generation capabilities, an expanded library of linkers with improved stability, site specific conjugation chemistries, and optimised payloads, the combined company is positioned at the forefront of ADC innovation.

"Today is an exciting milestone for Pyxis Oncology as we expand our pipeline with the addition of sotigalimab (now PYX-107), a potentially first- and best-in-class CD40 agonist with demonstrated anti-cancer activity in patients who previously progressed on PD-(L)1 inhibitors, and enhance our ADC capabilities," said Lara S. Sullivan, M.D. "We are excited about the potential of the APXiMAB platform, which has been commercially and clinically validated, to generate novel antibodies that can be optimised for targeted payload delivery." We believe Pyxis Oncology is now well positioned with an end-to-end system for designing and producing novel, next-generation ADC candidates with improved potency, stability, and tolerability, when combined with our clinically validated proprietary FACT platform licenced from Pfizer Inc." Lara S. Sullivan, M.D., will remain president and chief executive officer of the combined company, with Pamela Connealy as chief financial officer and chief operating officer, and Jan Pinkas, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer. Apexigen founder and former CEO Xiaodong Yang, M.D., Ph.D., will join the combined company as Distinguished Research Fellow.

“I’m pleased to join the Pyxis Oncology board of directors,” said Jakob Dupont. “Pyxis Oncology is one of the few companies with clinically and commercially validated ADC platform capabilities, and I look forward to working with the team as we advance new treatment options for patients with cancer.” Pyxis Oncology, Inc. is a clinical stage company focused on defeating difficult-to-treat cancers. The company is efficiently building next-generation therapeutics that hold the potential for mono and combination therapies.