SPAC Merger Fires Boosters for 180 Life Sciences’ Exploration in Unmet Medical Needs of Anti-inflammatories Space

October 23, 2020 14:12:43
  • Biotechnology company 180 Life Sciences has launched a variety of advanced clinical and preclinical-stage efforts to develop novel anti-inflammatory treatments for patients with chronic illnesses
  • A planned merger with 180 Life Sciences advanced under a special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC) is expected to be completed within the next month, resulting in a Nasdaq filing under the ticker ATNF
  • 180 Life Sciences’s founders are an experienced team of medical scientists who pioneered anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals in the 1990s that are still in use today, generating billions in revenue
  • The company’s own-IP clinical trials seek to resolve inflammation-related issues in conditions such as Dupuytren’s disease, frozen shoulder, arthritis, ulcerative colitis, liver fibrosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis
  • Analysts forecast the anti-inflammatory therapeutics market will be worth $191.42 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 3 percent

Clinical stage biotechnology company 180 Life Sciences Corp., whose scientific teams are led by drug developers renowned for producing some of the largest-selling pharmaceuticals to ever come to market, is accelerating toward a planned Nasdaq launch under a special purpose acquisition corporation (“SPAC”) that expects to rocket its research into novel anti-inflammatory therapies toward some stellar goals.

KBL Merger Corp. (NASDAQ: KBLM, NASDAQ: KBLMR, and NASDAQ: KBLMW), previously announced its SPAC merger plans with 180 Life Sciences to create a company to be trading under the ticker ATNF (https://ibn.fm/JUoEd), with closing anticipated by November (https://ibn.fm/POsZo). The company recently successfully closed bridge financing for working capital to advance its efforts to go public and develop its pipeline of important new pharmaceuticals.

Following U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approval of the company’s S4 registration statement earlier this month, the company organized a special meeting of stockholders for Oct. 26 regarding the business combination.

The clinical trial pipeline includes a Phase 2b/3 trial expected to result in data read-out in 2021 for therapies to fight early-stage Dupuytren’s disease, a condition in which one or more fingers become permanently bent in a flexed position.

Additional Phase 2 trials already  expected to be intiated by year-end or early 2021 include treatment of frozen shoulder, a common condition characterized by stiffness and severe pain in the shoulder joint.

Additonal planned  trails include an immune system suppression therapy to tackle Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction (POCD), a condition manifesting as a long-lasting cognitive decline after surgery that is regarded as a major clinical problem with no clear cause or effective therapy at this point, although neuroinflammation is understood to play a critical role (https://ibn.fm/U3SJM).

These advanced trials involve the development of products to treat unmet medical needs through anti-TNF therapy, which seeks to block the activity of a substance in the body that can cause inflammation and lead to immune-system diseases.

The company also has begun preclinical studies looking at treatments for liver fibrosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, inflammation-related pain, early arthritis and ulcerative colitis in ex-smokers, all with anticipated inflammatory system tie-ins.

“Our scientific team has unparalleled expertise and a proven track record of developing unique drugs that improved the lives of millions of people and created companies that were later sold for billions of dollars,” KBL Merger Corp. CEO Dr. Marlene Krauss stated in the June news release about the planned ATNF merger. “We have assembled this world-class team to build a unique, global biotechnology company dedicated to developing novel drugs in a cost-effective manner.”

Krauss has invested more than $1 billion through three institutional venture capital funds, numerous IPOs and three prior SPACS, with the current venture marking her fourth SPAC in the healthcare space.

The medical scientist founders of 180 Life Sciences Krauss referred to are pioneers in the field of anti-inflammatory drugs, developing anti-TNF biologics and anti-integrin inhibitors in 1990s that are still on the market, spawning a new class of inflammation therapeutics.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.180LifeSciences.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to 180 Life Sciences are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/180

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