Estrella Immunopharma, Inc., formerly known as TradeUP Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: UPTD, UPTDW, UPTDU), today announced the successful closing of its business combination with Estrella Biopharma, Inc., a preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing T-cell therapies with the capacity to address treatment challenges for patients with blood cancers and solid tumors.
The resulting combined company will operate under the name Estrella Immunopharma, Inc. and will be led by Estrella Founder and CEO Dr. Cheng Liu. The combined company’s common stock and warrants will trade on NASDAQ under the symbols “ESLA,” and “ESLAW,” respectively, effective October 2, 2023.
On or about October 2, 2023, all remaining UPTD units will separate into their underlying components, which consist of one share of combined company’s common stock and one-half of one warrant. The transaction was approved by UPTD’s stockholders at the special meeting held on July 31, 2023.
Immediately prior to completion of the business combination, Estrella closed its Series A preferred stock financings with gross proceeds of $9.75 million and a short-term debt financing with gross proceeds of $0.30 million. Additionally, in conjunction with closing of the business combination, UPTD closed the previously announced private placement of UPTD common stock with gross proceeds of $10.00 million. Together, the business combination and the transaction financings provide the combined entity approximately $23.11 million available cash, after giving effect to UPTD stockholder redemption and before payment of transaction and offering expenses.
“We are pleased to close this transaction and are committed to the continued advancement of our clinical programs,” stated Dr. Liu, President and CEO of Estrella. “Our anti-CD19 ARTEMIS T-cell therapy has the potential to improve patient outcomes while reducing the risk of Cytokine Release Syndrome (CRS). This marks a critical advancement in the management of blood cancer treatments.”
“We are excited to have completed our Business Combination with Estrella, a company dedicated to resolving unmet medical demands. With this additional capital and the help of their highly experienced team, Estrella is well positioned to advance their pipeline programs into clinics and deliver long-term value to stockholders. Together, we look forward to seeing Estrella bring their novel therapeutics to fruition,” added Mr. Weiguang Yang, Co-CEO of UPTD.
Advisors
US Tiger Securities, Inc. served as the financial advisor to UPTD. Robinson & Cole LLP acted as the legal advisor to UPTD. Winston & Strawn LLP acted as the legal advisor to Estrella.
About Estrella
Estrella Immunopharma, Inc. is a preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing CD19 and CD22-targeted ARTEMIS® T-cell therapies with the capacity to address treatment challenges for patients with blood cancers and solid tumors. Estrella’s mission is to harness the evolutionary power of the human immune system to transform the lives of patients fighting cancer. To accomplish this mission, Estrella’s lead product candidate, EB103, utilizes Eureka’s ARTEMIS® technology to target CD19, a protein expressed on the surface of almost all B-cell leukemias and lymphomas. Estrella is also developing EB104, which also utilizes Eureka’s ARTEMIS® technology to target not only CD19, but also CD22, a protein that, like CD19, is expressed on the surface of most B-cell malignancies. Estrella is also collaborating with Imugene Limited and its product candidate, CF33-CD19t an oncolytic virus (“CF33-CD19t”), to research the use of EB103 in conjunction with CF33-CD19t to treat solid tumors using a “mark and kill” strategy.
About UPTD
TradeUP Acquisition Corp. was a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. UPTD was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on January 6, 2021.
