Jan 11 (Reuters) - Canada’s Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp agreed to buy Pennsylvania-based OnCore Biopharma Inc to focus on developing hepatitis B virus treatment by combining multiple therapeutic methods.
The implied market value of the merged company is about $750 million, based on Tekmira stock’s closing price of $15.70 on the Nasdaq on Jan. 9, the companies said in a statement.
OnCore will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tekmira and upon closing of the deal, OnCore shareholders will hold about 50 percent of the total outstanding shares of Tekmira.
Tekmira’s Chief Executive Mark Murray will remain as CEO of the merged company and Chairman Daniel Kisner will become vice chairman. OnCore’s Chairman Vivek Ramaswamy will be the chairman of the combined company.
Tekmira said it will continue with its oncology and anti-viral programs, including Ebola.
Tekmira said last year it supplied one of its experimental Ebola treatments for clinical studies to be in conducted in West Africa. (Reporting by Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
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