PharmAthene和Altimmune公司合并创建免疫治疗公司针对传染病

StephenW

        PharmAthene and Altimmune Announce Merger to Create Immunotherapeutics Company Targeting Infectious Diseases      

                                        ANNAPOLIS, Md. and GAITHERSBURG, Md., Jan. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- PharmAthene, Inc. (NYSE MKT: PIP) and Altimmune, Inc., a privately-held immunotherapeutics company targeting infectious diseases, announced today the signing of a definitive agreement for the merger of PharmAthene and Altimmune in an all-stock transaction. Altimmune's current investors include Novartis Venture Fund, HealthCap, Truffle Capital and Redmont Capital. The combined company will be a fully-integrated and diversified immunotherapeutics company with four clinical stage and one preclinical stage programs. The proposed transaction does not affect PharmAthene's previously announced special one-time cash dividend of $2.91 per share of common stock.
        "A merger with Altimmune is an ideal strategic match. It fulfills our stated goal of continuing to build value for PharmAthene shareholders after we distribute the SIGA litigation proceeds on February 3," commented John M. Gill, President and Chief Executive Officer of PharmAthene. "By combining forces, we will diversify our portfolio into attractive commercial product opportunities and leverage our capabilities for developing next generation anthrax vaccines."
        Bill Enright, President and Chief Executive Officer of Altimmune, added, "The merger allows Altimmune to leverage PharmAthene's existing U.S. public company infrastructure, providing access to the capital markets, which is essential to the continued development of immunotherapeutics clinical programs including NasoVAX, NasoShield and HepTCell that leverage Altimmune's proprietary platform technologies."
                  Details of Proposed Merger
The merger has been unanimously approved by both Boards of Directors and is subject to the approval of PharmAthene and Altimmune shareholders, and other customary closing conditions. Under the terms of the merger, Altimmune will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of PharmAthene in an all-stock transaction. PharmAthene will issue shares of common stock to Altimmune shareholders such that Altimmune equity holders will own 58.2% of the fully-diluted equity of the combined company. The combined company, which will operate as a public company under the name Altimmune, is expected to trade on the NYSE MKT under the ticker symbol ALT.
        Bill Enright, Chief Executive Officer of Altimmune, and Elizabeth Czerepak, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Development of Altimmune, will serve in their respective positions for the combined company. The new Board of Directors will be initially comprised of three PharmAthene directors and four Altimmune directors. The combined company's headquarters will be located in Gaithersburg, MD. At closing the combined company is expected to have approximately $20 million in cash and cash commitments.
                  Clinical Stage Product Pipeline
The combined company's clinical stage product candidates following the merger will include:
        

•             NasoVAX: an intranasal, single dose, state-of-the-art recombinant influenza vaccine that in preclinical studies demonstrated early universal activity. Phase 2 is expected to commence during mid-2017 with initial data expected in 4Q17.
•             HepTcell: a first-in-class immunotherapeutics for chronic hepatitis B with the potential to offer a functional cure. Phase 1 is ongoing with data expected 4Q17.
•             SparVax-L: a next generation lyophilized anthrax vaccine (NIAID funded) that may be stored at room temperature and provides extended shelf life. A Phase 2 bridging study is anticipated to begin during the second half of 2017 with data anticipated during 2018.
•             NasoShield: an intranasal, single dose, first-in-class anthrax vaccine (BARDA funded) that based on preclinical studies may offer protection within a few weeks of administration.  A Phase 1 trial is expected to begin during the second half of 2017 with data anticipated during the first half of 2018.
  

                  Preclinical Product Pipeline        
        

• In addition to the clinical stage product candidates, the combined company has one preclinical program, Oncosyn, driven by Altimmune's proprietary Densigen synthetic peptide technology investigating the utility of this platform in immuno-oncology indications.
  

        Piper Jaffray & Co. has acted as an advisor on the transaction to Altimmune.
                  Important Additional Information about Proposed Merger        
        This communication is being made in respect of the proposed merger involving PharmAthene, Inc. and Altimmune, Inc. PharmAthene will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, a current report on Form 8-K, which will include the merger agreement and related documents. In addition, PharmAthene intends to file a registration statement on Form S-4 with the SEC, which will contain a joint proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials, and plans to file with the SEC other documents regarding the proposed transaction. The final joint proxy statement/prospectus will be sent to the stockholders of PharmAthene and Altimmune. The joint proxy statement/prospectus will contain information about PharmAthene, Altimmune, the proposed merger and related matters. STOCKHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS (INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS) AND OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, AS THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION THAT STOCKHOLDERS SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE MAKING A DECISION ABOUT THE MERGER AND RELATED MATTERS. In addition to receiving the joint proxy statement/prospectus and proxy card by mail, stockholders will also be able to obtain the joint proxy statement/prospectus, as well as other filings containing information about PharmAthene, without charge, from the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov) or, without charge, by directing a written request to: PharmAthene, Inc., One Park Place, Suite 450, Annapolis, Maryland 21401, Attention: Investor Relations.
        This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities in connection with the proposed merger shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
        Participants in Solicitation
        PharmAthene and its executive officers and directors may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from PharmAthene's stockholders with respect to the matters relating to the proposed merger. Altimmune and its officers and directors may also be deemed a participant in such solicitation. Information regarding PharmAthene's executive officers and directors is available in PharmAthene's proxy statement on Schedule 14A, filed with the SEC on April 29, 2016. Information regarding any interest that PharmAthene, Altimmune or any of the executive officers or directors of PharmAthene or Altimmune may have in the transaction with Altimmune will be set forth in the joint proxy statement/prospectus that PharmAthene intends to file with the SEC in connection with its stockholder vote on matters relating to the proposed merger. Stockholders will be able to obtain this information by reading the joint proxy statement/prospectus when it becomes available.
                  About PharmAthene, Inc.         
        PharmAthene is engaged in the development of a next generation anthrax vaccine that is intended to improve protection and safety while having favorable dosage and storage requirements compared to other anthrax vaccines.
                  About Altimmune, Inc.        
        Altimmune is a clinical stage immunotherapeutics company focused on the development of products to stimulate robust and durable immune responses for the prevention and treatment of disease. The company has two proprietary platform technologies, RespirVec and Densigen, each of which has been shown to activate the immune system in distinctly different ways than traditional vaccines.

StephenW

PharmAthene和Altimmune公司合并创建免疫治疗公司针对传染病

安纳波利斯和美国宾夕法尼亚州的GAITHERSBURG公司，2017年1月19日/美通社/ PharmAthene公司（NYSE MKT：PIP）和Altimmune公司（一家针对传染病的私人免疫治疗公司）今天宣布签署在Pharmathene和Altimmune在全股交易中的合并的最终协议。 Altimmune目前的投资者包括Novartis Venture Fund，HealthCap，Truffle Capital和Redmont Capital。合并后的公司将是一个完全集成和多样化的免疫治疗公司，具有四个临床阶段和一个临床前阶段计划。建议的交易不会影响PharmAthene先前宣布的每股普通股2.91美元的特殊一次性现金股利。

PharmAthene总裁兼首席执行官John M. Gill表示：“与Altimmune的合并是一个理想的战略匹配，它实现了我们的目标，即在我们在2月3日分发SIGA诉讼收入后继续为PharmAthene股东创造价值。 “通过结合力量，我们将使我们的产品组合多元化，具有吸引力的商业产品机会，并利用我们的能力开发下一代炭疽疫苗。

Altimmune公司总裁兼首席执行官Bill Enright补充说：“这项合并使得Altimmune能够利用PharmAthene现有的美国上市公司基础设施，进入资本市场，这对于免疫治疗临床项目的持续发展至关重要，包括NasoVAX，NasoShield和HepTCell利用Altimmune的专有平台技术。

拟议合并详情
该合并已获得两个董事会的一致批准，并须经PharmAthene和Altimmune股东及其他惯常结束条件的批准。根据合并条款，Altimmune将成为PharmAthene在全股权交易中的全资子公司。 PharmAthene将向Altimmune股东发行普通股股票，使Altimmune股权持有人将拥有合并公司全部稀释后股权的58.2％。合并后的公司将作为上市公司运营，名为Altimmune，预计将在纽约证券交易所MKT上以交易代码ALT进行交易。

Altimmune公司首席执行官Bill Enright和Altimmune公司首席财务官兼公司发展执行副总裁Elizabeth Czerepak将担任合并后公司的各自职务。新董事会将由三位PharmAthene董事和四位Altimmune董事组成。合并后的公司总部位于马里兰州盖瑟斯堡。合并后的公司预计将有约2,000万美元的现金和现金承诺。

临床阶段产品管道
合并后的合并后公司的临床阶段产品候选人将包括：

    NasoVAX：鼻内，单剂量，先进的重组流感疫苗，在临床前研究表明早期普遍活动。第二阶段预计将于2017年中期开始，初步数据预计在2014年第四季度。
    HepTcell：慢性乙型肝炎的首个免疫治疗药物，具有提供功能性治愈的潜力。第一阶段正在进行，数据预计2014年第四季度。
    SparVax-L：下一代冻干炭疽疫苗（NIAID资助），其可以在室温下储存并提供延长的保质期。预计第二阶段桥接研究将于2017年下半年开始，预计2018年数据。
    NasoShield：基于临床前研究的鼻内，单剂量，一流的炭疽疫苗（BARDA资助）可在给药后几周内提供保护。预期第一阶段试验将于2017年下半年开始，预计2018年上半年的数据。

临床前产品管道

    除了临床阶段产品候选人，合并公司有一个临床前程序，Oncosyn，由Altimmune的专有Densigen合成肽技术调查这一平台在免疫肿瘤学适应症的效用的驱动。

Piper Jaffray＆Co.担任Altimmune交易的顾问。

关于建议合并的重要附加信息

此通信是针对涉及PharmAthene公司和Altimmune公司的拟议合并提出的。PharmAthene将向证券交易委员会或SEC提交8-K表格的当前报告，其中包括合并协议和相关文件。此外，PharmAthene计划向证券交易委员会提交表格S-4的注册声明，其中将包含联合代理声明/招股说明书和其他相关材料，并计划向证券交易委员会提交有关拟议交易的其他文件。最终联合代理声明/招股说明书将发送给PharmAthene和Altimmune的股东。联合代理声明/招股说明书将包含PharmAthene，Altimmune，拟议合并及相关事宜的信息。股东有责任阅读联合债务报表/担保书（包括任何修改或补充）以及其他文件，在他们可以获得的情况下仔细阅读自己的章程，因为他们将包含重要信息，股东们在做出关于决定之前应考虑的重要信息合并及相关事项。除了通过邮寄接收联合代理声明/招股说明书和代理卡之外，股东还可以从证券交易委员会的网站（http：http：//www.fao.org/）获取联合代理声明/招股说明书，以及包含PharmAthene信息的其他文件， //www.sec.gov）或免费向以下地址发出书面请求：PharmAthene，Inc.，One Park Place，Suite 450，Annapolis，Maryland 21401，注意：投资者关系。

本通信不构成要约出售或要约出售的要约或要约购买任何证券的征求，也不应在任何管辖区域出售任何证券，在这些要约，招揽或销售将是非法的在根据任何该等司法管辖区的证券法注册或资格前。除非通过符合经修订的1933年证券法第10节要求的招股说明书，否则不得提出与拟议合并有关的证券。

参与者招标

PharmAthene及其执行官和董事可能被视为参与PharmAthene股东对与拟议合并有关的事项的代理的参与。 Altimmune及其官员和董事也可被视为参与此类招标。有关PharmAthene执行官和董事的信息可在PharmAthene在2016年4月29日向SEC提交的附表14A的代理声明中找到。关于PharmAthene，Altimmune或PharmAthene或Altimmune的任何执行官或董事可能拥有的任何利益的信息与Altimmune的交易将在联合代理声明/招股说明书中阐明，PharmAthene打算向证券交易委员会提交关于其股东对与拟议合并有关的事项的投票。股东将可以通过阅读联合代理声明/招股说明书（如果有的话）获得这些信息。

关于PharmAthene，Inc.

PharmAthene正在从事下一代炭疽疫苗的开发，旨在改善保护和安全性，同时与其他炭疽疫苗相比具有有利的剂量和存储要求。

关于Altimmune，Inc.

Altimmune是一个临床阶段免疫治疗公司，专注于产品的开发，以刺激强大和持久的免疫反应，预防和治疗疾病。该公司有两种专有的平台技术，RespirVec和Densigen，其中每一个已被证明激活免疫系统与传统疫苗明显不同的方式。