Amicus Nixes Reverse Merger with SPAC, Streamlines Portfolio

Marie Daghlian

Photo: John Crowley, chairman and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics

In its 2021 full year financial report, Amicus Therapeutics said the company and special purpose acquisition company ARYA Sciences IV had mutually agreed to terminate their previously announced merger agreement, originally announced at the end of September.

Amicus said the decision results from unfavorable market conditions affecting IPOs, follow-on financings, and SPACs in the biotech sector as well as an increasingly challenging environment for stand-alone gene therapy companies. Neither party will be required to pay the other a termination fee.

Amicus had originally planned to pin out its gene therapy business into a next-generation genetic medicine company, Caritas Therapeutics, through the reverse merger, which was to be funded with approximately $400 million at the closing of transactions that included $150 million held in the ARYA SPAC, $200 million in a concurrent private investment, and $50 million in a cash investment from Amicus in exchange for additional equity.

The company said it is also streamlining its portfolio around a more focused R&D pipeline, which is expected to result in approximately $400 million in net savings through 2026.

Amicus will focus and continue to invest in Galafold for Fabry disease and in AT-GAA for Pompe disease, while also investing in technologies that secure and advance the core Fabry and Pompe franchises. Discovery efforts in core science and platform technologies will focus on addressing safe and efficient gene transfer.

The company expects continued strong uptake of Galafold globally, which is expected to drive double-digit revenue growth again in 2022 and remains heavily focused on progressing the regulatory reviews and launch preparations for AT-GAA, with the aim of achieving profitability in 2023.

“We are strongly committed to profitability in 2023 and will continue to be self-sustaining without the need for any further equity financings,” stated John Crowley, chairman and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics. “As we reach these major inflection points of a second approved medicine as well as profitability, we are taking a significant step forward toward our vision to be one of the world’s leading biotechnology companies focused on rare diseases.”