Another biotech SPAC dream has died, as Blade Therapeutics announced its merger plans have come unstuck.
The company set out plans for a blank-check deal in November 2021 that would have given Blade about $255 million to bankroll trials in fibrosis and neurodegenerative conditions. But the companies have mutually agreed to terminate Blade’s move to join the NASDAQ by merging with SPRIM Global Investments’ special purpose acquisition company, they announced Monday.
No reasons were given for halting the plans, but the postponement of shareholder meetings organized by the SPAC company in late May and early June to approve the merger hinted that trouble was ahead.
Proceeds from the deal were expected to fund multiple clinical trials of Blade’s oral, small molecule drugs. They included a phase 2 study of Blade’s lead asset, autotaxin inhibitor cudetaxestat, in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in the first half of 2022, as well as a phase 1 trial of BLD-2184, a calpain inhibitor, for genetic orphan neurodegenerative conditions.
Blade CEO Wendye Robbins, M.D., said in a statement that the biotech remains focused on its development plans including a phase 2 study of cudetaxestat.
SPAC deals saw an explosion of interest in 2020, but the market has cooled over the past year. In February, gene therapy-focused Amicus Therapeutics blamed “market conditions” for sinking its own SPAC plans.