A small buy­out deal gives a pen­ny-stock biotech a boost and a sec­ond chance

Just over a month af­ter for­mer mi­Ra­gen Ther­a­peu­tics COO Lee Rauch stepped up to take the helm, the mi­cro­cap is scoop­ing up Virid­i­an Ther­a­peu­tics — and with it, a new lead can­di­date and $91 mil­lion boost.

mi­Ra­gen’s work­force was cut in half by a cost­ly re­struc­tur­ing plan ini­ti­at­ed last Au­gust, with 44 po­si­tions elim­i­nat­ed. Dis­cov­ery re­search was side­lined, while the mi­croR­NA-fo­cused biotech fo­cused on the four pro­grams it had. About a year lat­er, CEO William Mar­shall re­signed, leav­ing Rauch to pick up the pieces.

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