PharmAthene to go public through merger

PharmAthene is going public through a merger with Health Acquisition Corp. PharmAthene shareholders will gain 52 percent of the shares in the combined company, which will continue under the PharmAthene name. The company will have about $70 million once the deal closes, which will be used to fund new product development, R&D and clinical trials. PharmAthene has been developing new antidotes for biodefense programs. The boards of both companies have signed off on the deal.

"We are seeking to apply the classic defense contractor model of developing multiple government customers--defense, homeland security, state and regional authorities--and then adapting our products for wider commercial use," says David P. Wright, CEO of PharmAthene. "Biodefense products should be available to all levels of government, large venues, commercial offices, hotels, hospitals and even to individual consumers, and we intend initially to develop and commercialize products for all of these markets while evaluating dual-use applications for our products within broader commercial markets."

- see the company's release [1] on the merger
- read the AP report [2]

ALSO: Chinese biotech 3SBio has filed to go public in an IPO designed to raise up to $123 million. Much of that is earmarked for R&D and clinical trials. Report [3]

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