Avant Diagnostics, Inc. (AVDX) Announces Letter of Intent to Merge with Diagnostics Division of Amarantus Bioscience Holdings, Inc.
Earlier today, Avant Diagnostics, Inc. (OTCQB: AVDX) announced that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent to merge with Amarantus Diagnostics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amarantus Bioscience Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX: AMBS). Under the terms of the agreement, Avant will issue 80 million shares of common stock to Amarantus upon execution of definitive agreements, as well as additional shares of common stock after reaching predetermined sales milestones. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, and it’s expected to be finalized in the second quarter of 2016.
“We are pleased to have found the appropriate partner to divest our diagnostics business unit as we transition to a therapeutics-only focused company,” Gerald E. Commissiong, president and chief executive officer of Amarantus, stated in the news release. “After exploring numerous avenues for implementing Avant’s OvaDx® development and commercialization strategy, it is clear that combining Avant’s and Amarantus’ diagnostic assets and core competencies creates a platform that provides maximum value to our collective shareholders.”
Avant’s OvaDx is a sophisticated microarray-based test offering the potential to substantially improve the current diagnostic standards related to ovarian cancer. By combining this powerful, protein-based technology with the therapeutic pipeline of Amarantus Diagnostics, Avant aims to establish itself as a world-class diversified neurology- and oncology-focused diagnostics company with the ability to deliver actionable information to physicians seeking to provide the best treatment options for patients, as well as to assist the research community in developing new treatments for a host of devastating illnesses.
The foundation of this merger agreement is the intrinsic connection between the fundamental scientific underpinnings of Avant’s oncology research and Amarantus’s research in the fields of neurodegeneration. By pooling protein-based, flow-based and next-gen sequencing based technologies, the combined company’s diagnostic testing portfolio is expected to greatly expand Avant’s ability to evaluate cross-platform development of diagnostic products.
“The collective diagnostic assets [of Avant and Amarantus Diagnostics] will create a truly unique opportunity to implement our mission of saving and enhancing lives through early detection of disease,” continued Commissiong. “We expect that the sum of the collective parts will far exceed the value of the individual parts.”
Amarantus’s intellectual property portfolio includes NuroPro®, a protein-based diagnostic blood test for Parkinson’s disease; SeraPro BC, a protein-based diagnostic blood test for breast cancer; and several other assays that will be contributed to Avant following the successful completion of the merger. Additionally, Amarantus Diagnostics has entered into an agreement with a Maryland-based CLIA laboratory in preparation for CLIA-enabling validation studies, and, following completion of the merger transaction, this agreement is expected to better position Avant to advance the clinical development of OvaDx.
For more information, visit www.avantdiagnostics.com
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