CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Obsidian Therapeutics has completed its previously announced transaction with Galera Therapeutics and closed a $350 million private placement financing to support the development of engineered cell therapies for solid tumors.
The combined company will operate under the name Obsidian Therapeutics and is expected to begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “OBX” on Aug. 4.
Before the merger closed, Obsidian completed an oversubscribed private placement that generated $350 million in gross proceeds. New investors included Balyasny Asset Management, Caligan Partners, Eventide Asset Management, Nantahala Capital, Octagon Capital, Redmile, Spruce Street Capital and Trails Edge Capital Partners.
Existing investors participating in the financing included Atlas Venture, Deep Track Capital, Foresite Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Logos Capital, Novo Holdings, Paradigm BioCapital Advisors, Pivotal bioVenture Partners, RA Capital Management, RTW Investments, TCGX and Wellington Management.
The combined company expects to have approximately $350 million in cash and cash equivalents following the transaction. The funding is expected to support operations into the second half of 2028 and through several clinical milestones for Obsidian’s lead candidate, OBX-115.
Obsidian expects Phase 1 data from an ongoing non-small cell lung cancer trial in the first half of 2027. Topline data from a registration-enabling melanoma trial are expected by the end of 2027. The combined company will also continue supporting Galera’s pipeline.
“The completion of the merger with Galera and closing of our $350 million private placement mark a transformative milestone that propels Obsidian into its next stage of growth,” said Madan Jagasia, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Obsidian.
Jagasia said the company’s financial position, leadership team and early Phase 2 data for OBX-115 position it to advance tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapies for patients with solid tumors.
Obsidian also expects to begin enrolling patients with immune checkpoint inhibitor-resistant advanced melanoma in the registration-enabling portion of its multicenter study in mid-2026.
The company uses its cytoDRiVE platform to develop engineered tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte, or TIL, therapies. OBX-115 is engineered with pharmacologically regulated membrane-bound interleukin-15 and is designed to provide a more patient-focused treatment regimen.
The therapy could reduce the overall treatment burden by allowing tumor tissue to be collected through minimally invasive core needle biopsies. It is also designed for use with low-dose lymphodepletion that may be administered in an outpatient setting and eliminates the need for interleukin-2 treatment.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted OBX-115 Fast Track and Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designations for patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma that is resistant to immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment.
OBX-115 is being evaluated in a Phase 2 trial for advanced melanoma and a Phase 1 trial for non-small cell lung cancer.
Before the transaction closed, Galera completed a 1-for-200 reverse stock split. Galera also issued a nontransferable contingent value right to shareholders of record as of July 31, giving eligible holders the right to receive potential future payments if certain conditions are met.
Former Galera shareholders own approximately 1.2% of the combined company. Former Obsidian shareholders own about 51.6%, while investors in the private placement own approximately 47.2%.
Leerink Partners served as Obsidian’s exclusive financial adviser, while Goodwin Procter provided legal counsel. Leerink Partners, TD Cowen, Piper Sandler, William Blair and LifeSci Capital served as placement agents for the financing.
Sidley Austin served as legal counsel to Galera, and Lucid Capital Markets provided a fairness opinion to Galera’s Board of Directors.
