GTx and Oncternal Therapeutics have entered into a merger agreement under which the stockholders of Oncternal would become the majority owners of GTx’s outstanding common stock. The proposed merger will create a publicly-traded, clinical-stage oncology company.
 
The combined company will be named Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc.
 
Oncternal’s lead program, cirmtuzumab, is an investigational, potential first-in-class anti-ROR1 monoclonal antibody. Cirmtuzumab is currently in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in combination with ibrutinib for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). In addition, an investigator-initiated Phase 1 clinical trial of cirmtuzumab in combination with paclitaxel for women with metastatic breast cancer is being conducted at the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego).
 
TK216, an investigational, potential first-in-class small molecule designed to inhibit the biological activity of ETS-family transcription factor oncoproteins, is being evaluated alone and in combination with vincristine in a Phase 1 clinical trial in patients with relapsed or refractory Ewing sarcoma.
 
In addition, a ROR-1 targeted chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAdR-T) program is in preclinical development at UC San Diego for hematologic and solid tumors.
 
James Breitmeyer, president and chief executive officer of Oncternal and a 30-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry, will continue as president and chief executive of the combined company.
 
“This merger introduces Oncternal and its promising oncology pipeline to the public market and provides additional capital resources to advance our programs to potential value inflection points,” said Dr. Breitmeyer. “In addition to clinical data expected from our cirmtuzumab and TK216 programs later this year and during the first half of 2020, we also plan to have preclinical results that get us ready for clinical testing of our ROR1 CAR-T program. The addition of GTx’s SARD technology strengthens our pipeline and augments our entire oncology franchise, which includes a range of therapeutic approaches for a variety of difficult to treat cancers.”