SAN CARLOS, Calif. and NEW YORK, March 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apexigen, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing a new generation of antibody therapeutics for oncology, and Brookline Capital Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: BCAC, BCACU, BCACW), a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”), today announced they have entered into a definitive business combination agreement. Upon closing of the transaction, Brookline Capital Acquisition Corp. will be renamed Apexigen, Inc. (the “Combined Company”) and will be led by Xiaodong Yang, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Apexigen. The Combined Company expects to list its stock on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “APGN”.

A group of healthcare investors and existing Apexigen stockholders has committed to participate in the transaction through a $15 million common stock and warrant PIPE at a purchase price of $10 for a unit consisting of one share and a half warrant for one share. Gross proceeds of the transaction available to the Combined Company at closing will be approximately $73 million (assuming no redemptions from Brookline Capital Acquisition Corp.’s trust account and before transaction expenses). In addition, Brookline Capital Acquisition Corp. and Lincoln Park have entered into a committed investment agreement under which the Combined Company would have the right to direct Lincoln Park to purchase up to an aggregate of $50 million of common stock of the Combined Company over a 24-month period (subject to certain requirements under the investment agreement), providing financing flexibility to the Combined Company.

“We’re tremendously pleased with the strong support from our investors and Lincoln Park, as well as from the experienced team at Brookline Capital Acquisition Corp. and their public life science investment banking affiliate, Brookline Capital Markets,” said Dr. Yang. “This transaction brings Apexigen public and strengthens our balance sheet to advance the Phase 2 development of our lead program, sotigalimab, as well as to maximize the therapeutic potential of Apexigen’s APXiMAB™ antibody discovery platform and innovative pipeline of other antibody therapeutics. We remain encouraged by emerging data from ongoing Phase 2 clinical trials of sotigalimab, a potentially first-in-class and best-in-class CD40 agonist that may provide superior clinical benefit across multiple important cancer indications. Together with Brookline Capital Acquisition Corp., we look forward to driving sotigalimab through Phase 2 development and delivering on our shared vision to overcome outstanding challenges in oncology.”

Dr. Samuel P. Wertheimer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Brookline Capital Acquisition Corp., commented, “We are thrilled to partner with Apexigen to power the next generation of immuno-oncology therapeutics. Apexigen’s validated APXiMAB™ antibody discovery platform and expanding pipeline hold significant promise across multiple cancer indications with high unmet needs, as well as potential applications beyond oncology. We have great confidence in management’s ability to lead Apexigen through this next phase of growth as a publicly listed company, to reach new inflection points across its pipeline and to drive long-term value for stockholders.”

About Apexigen

Apexigen is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing a new generation of antibody therapeutics for oncology, with an emphasis on new immuno-oncology agents that may harness the patient’s immune system to combat and eradicate cancer. Sotigalimab and Apexigen’s other programs were discovered using Apexigen’s proprietary APXiMAB™ discovery platform. This platform has enabled Apexigen and its collaboration partners to discover and develop high-quality therapeutic antibodies against a variety of molecular targets, including targets that are difficult to drug with conventional antibody technologies. Multiple product candidates have been discovered using the APXiMAB platform, one of which is commercially available and the others are in clinical development, either internally by Apexigen or by its licensees. For more information, please visit www.apexigen.com.