Secretive biotechnology firm Treeline Biosciences is going public via reverse merger.
In a deal announced Monday, Treeline will combine with microfluidics company Standard BioTools. Shareholders in Standard will own an estimated 15.5% of the newly combined company, while the investors that backed Treeline will get the other 84.5%, according to an investor presentation.
The deal also hands Standard’s stockholders a contingent value right per share linked to proceeds of any sales involving the company’s pre-merger assets. Treeline will enter the public markets with nearly $900 million in cash and a trio of experimental programs in early trials.
Treeline is led by Josh Bilenker, the veteran biotechnology executive and former leader of Loxo Oncology, which Eli Lilly acquired for $8 billion in 2019. Bilenker briefly ran Lilly’s cancer drug division afterwards, and has since been building Treeline, a firm that’s secured more than $1 billion in private funding.
Treeline has been aiming to develop a mix of in-licensed medicines as well as internally discovered prospects. Its four publicly disclosed programs are drugs that either inhibit or “degrade” cancer targets.
TLN-121 is a degrader designed to remove BCL6 — a protein lymphoma cells use to evade the immune system — from malignant cells. The drug is currently in early-stage testing as a monotherapy, though it could be positioned in combinations as well.
Treeline acquired rights to a second drug, TLN-254, from Hengrui Pharmaceuticals in 2023. That drug is approved in China for use in patients with relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma. It blocks expression of a gene called EZH2, which is often overactive or mutated in cancer.
A third clinical candidate goes after KRAS, a popular and difficult target for cancer drug developers. Treeline says its drug, TLN-372, is capable of “pan-KRAS” inhibition, rather than only blocking a specific subset of mutations. An early-stage study is ongoing, and Treeline expects to test the drug in combinations with other therapies.
A fourth drug aimed at BCL-XL, a protective protein tumors rely on, could start Phase 1 testing later this year. Several other unnamed programs are in development as well.
“Our platform story is repeatability,” Bilenker said on a call with shareholders. “We want to be known as a company that picks good targets, nominates great development candidates and makes thoughtful development decisions.”
Bilenker will lead the biotech going forward along with Treeline Chief Scientific Officer Jeff Engelman and Chief Financial Officer Spencer Smith. The biotech declined to answer additional questions from BioPharma Dive.
“Deploying our capital behind this team and pipeline gives our stockholders exposure to a catalyst-rich portfolio with significant potential for value creation in both the near- and long-term,” said Michael Egholm, Standard’s CEO, in a statement.
Shares in Standard, which traded just above $1 per share last week, plunged by 20% Monday on the news.
If the merger, estimated to close in the second half of 2026, goes through, the new company will trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol “TRLN.”
