Versartis acquires Aravive Biologics and with it AVB-56-500.

Versartis, Inc. and Aravive Biologics, Inc., jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Aravive will merge with a wholly owned subsidiary of Versartis in an all-stock transaction. The transaction will result in a clinical stage, Nasdaq-listed company, based in Houston, Texas, focused on the development of innovative oncology therapeutics. Aravive Biologics is a privately held clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel, highly selective therapies designed to treat serious cancers and certain fibrotic diseases. Aravive�s lead program is focused on inhibition of the GAS6-AXL signaling axis, which is a known target associated with the growth and proliferation of multiple tumor types. In preclinical studies, GAS6-AXL inhibition has shown activity, whether achieved by a single agent or in combination with a variety of anticancer therapies including radiation therapy, immuno-oncology agents, and drugs that affect DNA replication and repair. Clinically, elevated GAS6 levels have been associated with poor prognosis in cancer. Aravive has established clinical proof-of mechanism for its first-in-class drug candidate, demonstrating full GAS6 neutralization with AVB-S6-500, and plans to initiate an expanded clinical development program combining it with standard of care therapies in patients with a number of tumor types, initially in ovarian cancers in the second half of 2018.