AgeX Therapeutics and Serina Therapeutics in all stock merger agreement

Serina Therapeutics entered into a merger agreement with AgeX Therapeutics on August 29 under which Serina will merge with a wholly-owned subsidiary of AgeX in an all-stock transaction. The combined company will continue under the Serina Therapeutics name and will focus on advancing Serina’s pipeline of small molecule drug candidates targeting central nervous system indications, enabled by the company’s proprietary POZ Platform delivery technology. In addition to advancing the company’s wholly-owned pipeline assets, Serina is working with companies in the pharmaceutical industry currently advancing pre-clinical studies exploring POZ polymer lipid-nanoparticles in next generation RNA vaccines. The combined company will focus on advancing Serina’s lead drug candidate for the treatment of advanced Parkinson’s Disease through pre-clinical studies, with the goal of submitting an investigational new drug submission or IND to the Food and Drug Administration for the initiation of a Phase I clinical trial during the fourth quarter of 2024. Serina has two other pipeline assets that are positioned to enter IND enabling studies, SER-227 for certain post-operative pain indications and SER-228, POZ-cannabidiol, for refractory epilepsy indications. Additionally, the combined company will focus on expanding Serina’s LNP and antibody drug conjugate partnering collaborations. Under the terms of the merger agreement, pending stockholder approval of the transaction, Serina will merge with a wholly-owned subsidiary of AgeX, and stockholders of Serina will receive shares of AgeX common stock . AgeX following the merger is referred to herein as the “combined company.” The merger has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions. Upon completion of the merger, pre-merger AgeX stockholders are expected to own approximately 25% of the newly combined company while pre-merger Serina stockholders are expected to own approximately 75% of the newly combined company. Following the merger, it is anticipated that the combined company will be led by a new Chief Executive Officer.Upon completion of the transaction, the combined company will operate under the Serina Therapeutics name, and the combined company’s common stock is expected to trade on the NYSE American under the ticker symbol “SER.” The corporate headquarters will be in Huntsville, Alabama.