Bounc­ing back from a shock­ing CRL, Athenex shares soar with buy­out of nat­ur­al killer T cell play­er

Sev­er­al weeks af­ter Athenex was hit with a sur­prise CRL for its oral chemother­a­py can­di­date — and a class-ac­tion law­suit to boot — the com­pa­ny’s stock is get­ting a much-need­ed boost as it snatch­es up a nat­ur­al killer T cell play­er.

Athenex is shelling out $70 mil­lion up­front (pri­mar­i­ly in eq­ui­ty) to buy out Ku­ur Ther­a­peu­tics, the com­pa­nies an­nounced on Tues­day. In re­sponse, the com­pa­ny’s stock $AT­NX soared more than 49% on Wednes­day morn­ing, pric­ing in around $5 apiece. In ad­di­tion to the up­front pay­ment, Ku­ur stands to pock­et an­oth­er $115 mil­lion in mile­stones, ei­ther in cash or com­mon stock, at Athenex’s dis­cre­tion.

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