PITTSBURGH – Troutman Pepper Locke advised Ensysce Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage company developing a new class of tamper-proof opioids for the treatment of severe pain, in its acquisition of Cy Biopharma, Inc., a privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company. For more information, see the press release.
The acquisition is structured as a stock-for-stock merger in which all outstanding equity interests of Cy Biopharma were exchanged for shares of Ensysce’s newly created Series C non-voting convertible preferred stock.
Concurrent with the acquisition, Ensysce Biosciences entered into a definitive agreement for a private placement financing expected to raise up to $77 million. The financing includes $21.5 million at initial close, $17.1 million in cash from a pre-acquisition convertible note financing, and up to $38.6 million contingent on the achievement of a clinical trial milestone. The proceeds are expected to fund CY200, Cy Biopharma’s lead candidate for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, through Phase 2 proof-of-concept data and into registrational development.
The Troutman Pepper Locke team that advised Ensysce Biosciences was led by Eric Kline and included Greg Rubis, Mat Saykiewicz, and Kim Petrolo.
Consistently recognized as a top-tier practice, Troutman Pepper Locke’s corporate attorneys regularly handle strategic deals for Fortune 100 corporations and middle market transactions for private equity clients. Core areas of service include mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, corporate governance, securities laws compliance, capital markets transactions, and other significant domestic and cross-border transactions, as well as general corporate counseling.
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