Humanigen, Inc. was a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on preventing and treating certain inflammatory and oncological conditions. Its product candidates, lenzilumab and ifabotuzumab, are Humaneered® monoclonal antibodies with broad applications that can neutralize an immune hyper-response called a cytokine storm and target tumor vasculature, respectively.
The company battled several challenges after failing to receive regulatory approval for lenzilumab to treat COVID-19 in the summer of 2021. Humanigen’s stock price dropped over 60% after approval was denied and continued to decrease over the next 12 months. SC&H Capital was retained to assess the likelihood of potential investors and buyers and launched a global marketing effort to solicit interest. Multiple term sheets were received, and a proposal to complete a reverse merger was pursued, but it was ultimately not completed. Trading was suspended on July 26, 2023, and the stock was delisted from the Nasdaq market on October 11, 2023. With no ability to raise additional capital, the Company could not continue operations and filed chapter 11 on January 3, 2024.
After consultation with the Humanigen board and its advisors, a bid from Taran Therapeutics, Inc. (Taran), a newly formed entity by the former CEO was chosen as the stalking horse and debtor-in-possession lender. SC&H Capital’s process was used to obtain consent from the unsecured creditors’ committee after proving this was the best available solution. The bankruptcy court agreed and approved the sale less than two months after filing, conveying lenzilumab and ifabotuzumab, and the associated extensive clinical data and intellectual property of these compounds to Taran for future development.
