AmpliPhi and SPS complete merger

US bacteriophage company AmpliPhi BioSciences has completed its merger with Australia-born Special Phage Services (SPS).

Ampliphi's wholly-owned Australian subsidiary has now acquired 100% of SPS' holding company, Special Phage Holdings.

The combined company will focus on the development of treatments for antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, including so-called ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter) organisms.

The company’s lead program is focused on treatments for chronic and acute lung infections.

The merger deal, first announced in September, involves the issue of up to 40 million Ampliphi shares to SPS' owners – 20 million initially, and another 20 million to be held in escrow pending the completion of certain conditions.

If the full sum is issued, SPS' investors will own 47% of the combined company. The merger had been unanimously approved by SPS shareholders.

SPS founder and former managing director Dr Anthony Smithyman and former financial adviser Tony Gellert have joined the combined company's board.

Smithyman said the merger will prove beneficial for both parties. “Over the past seven years both companies have developed portfolios of phage-based antibacterial product candidates,” he said.

“The combination of the two companies will create the critical mass required to take these much-needed products into clinical trials and set the stage for possible development and commercialisation partnerships.”