Dive Brief:
- Cardiovascular-focused stem cell company BioCardia announced Tuesday it will merger with shell company Tiger X Medical.
- The new company will take on the BioCardia name and will trade on the OTC Markets.
- The combined company will have $23 million in cash that will be used to support the late-stage studies of BioCardia's stem cell therapies.
Dive Insight:
BioCardia is merging with the former medical device company in an effort to fund its Phase 3 heart failure trial for CardiAMP, an autologous stem cell therapy meant to treat heart failure patients.
"Our CardiAMP cell therapy is seeking to address an enormous unmet need – a treatment for heart failure that develops after a patient has had a heart attack. The merger will provide resources necessary to continue our Phase III development of CardiAMP," said BioCardia CEO Peter Altman in a statement.
The trial is slated to include 250 patients at 40 clinical sites across the U.S. CardiAMP uses a patient's own cells and identifies heart attack victims who would be ideal for the therapy using a biomarker test developed by the company. The high dose of the cells are them delivered via a catheter.
Opko Health will be a "significant stockholder" in Tiger X Medical.
Previously known as Cardo Medical, Tiger X Medical was an orthopedic medical device company that stopped operating in 2010 and then sold off the rest of its assets. It receives royalties from Arthrex based on the sale of its joint arthroplasty products.