Treeline Biosciences, a well-funded cancer company that has raised more than $1 billion since its 2021 founding, is looking to step into the spotlight of the public markets.
The biotech has announced plans to merge with omics outfit Standard BioTools and secure a listing on the Nasdaq. The combined company will keep the Treeline name and trade under the ticker TRLN, Treeline and Standard announced on June 8.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year and should leave Treeline with $900 million in cash, according to the release, enough to last into 2029. Standard shareholders will own 16% of the company should the merger go through.
“2027 and 2028 should be transformative years for Treeline, with interim data expected from our clinical programs and several new programs beginning clinical testing,” Treeline CEO Josh Bilenker, M.D., said in the release. “Operating as a public company with a strengthened balance sheet will help us build an enduring biopharma company.”
Bilenker, who co-founded Treeline after his prior venture Loxo Oncology sold to Eli Lilly for $8 billion, will retain his leadership post following the merger.
Treeline closed a $200 million series A extension in September 2025, and took that fundraise as an opportunity to debut its first three clinical programs. This trio of phase 1 assets spans BCL6 degrader TLN-121, EZH2 inhibitor TLN-254 and a pan-KRAS inhibitor called TLN-372.
TLN-372 is likely to draw the most interest from investors, with RAS inhibitors enjoying a boom of hype following Revolution Medicines’ showstopping pancreatic cancer data.
In addition to these three clinical assets, Treeline has a fourth program, a BCL-XL-targeting protein degrader called TLN-499, set to grow into the clinic later this year. The seeds have also been sown for three more programs to enter human testing in 2027 and 2028, Treeline announced, not just in cancer but also in neurology and immunology indications.
On Standard BioTools’ part, the company has been searching for ways to fuel new growth and “maximize value for our shareholders” over recent months, the company’s president and CEO Michael Egholm, Ph.D., said in the release.
“Deploying our capital behind this team and pipeline gives our stockholders exposure to a catalyst-rich portfolio with significant potential for value creation in both the near- and long-term,” Egholm said.
Standard’s established microfluidics and mass cytometry businesses will not become part of Treeline’s portfolio, with Standard currently exploring potential buyers for these assets.