Privately held Candid Therapeutics will merge with Rallybio in a deal to take the inflammatory disease drugmaker public, the companies said Monday.
The new entity will operate under Candid’s name, and trade on Wall Street under the ticker “CDRX.” As part of the deal, Candid raised $505 million from more than a dozen venture capital firms and mutual funds including Venrock, RA Capital Management and Janus Henderson Investors.
Candid is developing bispecific antibodies known as T-cell engagers it acquired in two deals with Chinese biotechnology firms in 2024. One of Candid's central goals is to show it can advance drugs that are similar to cell therapies targeting B cells, but easier to manufacture and administer. While bispecifics research has largely focused on cancer, startups like Candid — and even some pharmas — are now testing the applicability of these drugs against autoimmune conditions.
Leading Candid’s work is “cizutamig,” a drug targeting the proteins BCMA and CD3 that’s slated to enter Phase 2 trials later this year in people with myasthenia gravis or interstitial lung disease.
The biotech is also developing a pipeline of drugs that could be used to treat cancer and other immune diseases. One of those, CND261, has started early human testing.
The combination with Rallybio and new financing provides the "resources to advance what we view as a transformative therapeutic modality,” Ken Song, Candid’s CEO, said in a statement.
Stephen Uden, the CEO of Rallybio, said in a statement that the deal "represents a compelling opportunity for Rallybio stockholders to participate in the future value creation of a well-capitalized, clinical-stage company with a differentiated and broad portfolio of TCE drug candidates."
Rallybio went public with an $81 million offering in 2021, but has struggled since 2024, cutting its workforce nearly in half as part of efforts to prioritize two mid-stage clinical prospects. The year after, it discontinued studies of its lead drug for a rare blood disorder in pregnant women and again laid off 40% of its staff. The company’s shares plunged last spring, hitting a low of $2 per share.
Rallybio’s stock price soared on the news of the reverse merger, though, to trade at just under $10 each.
The decision was unanimously approved by the boards of both biotechs, and is expected to close in the middle of 2026.
