Locust Walk Acquisition Corp.’s Stockholders Approve Business Combination with eFFECTOR Therapeutics to Create Next-Generation Oncology Company Developing New Class of Cancer Therapies
24 Agosto 2021 - 3:47PM
Locust Walk Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: LWAC) (“LWAC” or the
“Company”), a special purpose acquisition company, announced today
that the Company’s stockholders have approved all proposals
related to the previously announced business combination (the
“Business Combination”) with eFFECTOR Therapeutics, Inc.
(“eFFECTOR”) at a special meeting of stockholders held on August
24, 2021. Approximately 93.2% of the votes cast at the meeting on
the Business Combination proposal, representing approximately 71.7%
of LWAC’s outstanding shares, voted to approve the Business
Combination.
LWAC stockholders also voted overwhelmingly to
approve the other proposals at the special meeting.
The Business Combination is expected to close on
or about Wednesday, August 25, 2021. Upon closing, the combined
company expects that its common stock and public warrants will
commence trading on Nasdaq under the new trading symbols “EFTR” and
“EFTRW,” respectively, starting on or about Thursday, August 26,
2021.
LWAC received elections to redeem approximately
17.0 million of its outstanding shares, which will leave
approximately $5.2 million in its trust account. Combined with the
$60.7 million in expected gross proceeds from a concurrent private
placement, there will be approximately $65.9 million of total cash
proceeds from the transaction. As a result, eFFECTOR has waived the
requirement that the total cash proceeds equal or exceed $100.0
million. There will be approximately $53.5 million of net cash
available to the combined company from the transaction, after
deducting transaction fees and expenses.
eFFECTOR expects that the net cash following the
transaction will allow it to readout topline data from the ongoing
Phase 2b KICKSTART trial evaluating tomivosertib in combination
with pembrolizumab in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung
cancer (“NSCLC”), as well as readout initial overall response rate
(“ORR”) data from the ongoing Phase 2a dose expansion cohorts
evaluating zotatifin in patients with certain biomarker-positive
solid tumors, including ER+ breast cancer and KRAS-mutant
NSCLC.
About Locust Walk Acquisition
Corp.Locust Walk Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: LWAC) is a
blank-check company formed for the purpose of entering a merger,
share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase,
recapitalization, reorganization, or other similar business
combination with one or more businesses or entities.
About eFFECTOReFFECTOR is a
clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on pioneering the
development of a new class of oncology drugs referred to as
selective translation regulator inhibitors (STRIs). eFFECTOR’s STRI
product candidates target the eIF4F complex and its activating
kinase, mitogen-activated protein kinase 1/2 (MNK 1/2). The eIF4F
complex is a central node where two of the most frequently mutated
signaling pathways in cancer, the PI3K-AKT and RAS-MEK pathways,
converge to activate the translation of select mRNA into proteins
that are frequent culprits in key disease-driving processes. Each
of eFFECTOR’s product candidates is designed to act on a single
protein that drives the expression of multiple functionally related
proteins, including oncoproteins and immunosuppressive proteins in
T cells, that together control tumor growth, survival and immune
evasion. eFFECTOR’s lead product candidate, tomivosertib, is a MNK
1/2 inhibitor currently being evaluated in KICKSTART, a randomized,
double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2b trial of tomivosertib in
combination with pembrolizumab in patients with metastatic NSCLC.
Zotatifin, eFFECTOR’s inhibitor of eIF4A, is currently being
evaluated in Phase 2a expansion cohorts in certain
biomarker-positive solid tumors, including ER+ breast cancer and
KRAS-mutant NSCLC. eFFECTOR has a global collaboration with Pfizer
to develop inhibitors of a third target, eIF4E. In addition to the
company’s oncology focus, zotatifin is being evaluated as a
potential host-directed anti-viral therapy in patients with mild to
moderate COVID-19 in collaboration with the University of
California, San Francisco, under a $5 million grant sponsored by
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal
securities laws with respect to the proposed transaction between
LWAC and eFFECTOR Therapeutics, Inc. All statements other than
statements of historical facts contained in this press release,
including statements regarding LWAC or eFFECTOR’s future results of
operations and financial position, the amount of cash expected to
be available to eFFECTOR after the closing and giving effect to any
redemptions by LWAC stockholders, eFFECTOR’s business strategy, the
timing of the closing of the Business Combination and trading of
the Company's securities on Nasdaq, and the sufficiency of the
expected net cash following the transaction to allow clinical trial
readouts, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements generally are identified by the words “believe,”
“project,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,”
“strategy,” “future,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “may,” “should,”
“will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,”
and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are
subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions,
including, but not limited to, the following risks relating to the
proposed transaction: the risk that the transaction may not be
completed in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect
the price of LWAC’s securities; the failure to satisfy the
conditions to closing the transaction; the ability to realize the
anticipated benefits of the transaction; eFFECTOR may use its
capital resources sooner than it expects; and the risks associated
with eFFECTOR’s business and the Business Combination set forth in
the registration statement on Form S-4 filed with the SEC in
connection with the Business Combination. Because forward-looking
statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some
of which cannot be predicted or quantified and some of which are
beyond LWAC’s and eFFECTOR’s control, you should not rely on these
forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. .
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made.
Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking
statements, and except as required by law. LWAC and eFFECTOR assume
no obligation and do not intend to update or revise these
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise. Neither LWAC nor eFFECTOR gives any
assurance that either LWAC or eFFECTOR or the combined company will
achieve its expectations.
Contacts:Investors:Stephanie
CarringtonWestwicke, an ICR
Company646-277-1282Stephanie.Carrington@westwicke.com
Media:Heidi Chokeir, Ph.D.Canale
Communications619-203-5391heidi.chokeir@canalecomm.com
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