PROVIDENCE – Ocean Biomedical, a biopharmaceutical company launched out of Brown University, is poised to go public this week following an agreement made last month with a New York-based special purpose acquisition company.
Aesther Healthcare Acquisition Corp. filed a definitive proxy statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposing a business combination with Ocean Biomedical, the Rhode Island company announced on Jan. 13.
The boards of directors for both companies unanimously approved the proposed transaction, Ocean Biomedical said, and expect the agreement to go into effect on Feb. 7.
The biopharmaceutical company, located at 55 Claverick St., launched in 2019 and announced its intention to go public in April 2022 as it embarked on a $22 million fundraising campaign.
Between its establishment and that announcement, Ocean Biomedical “incurred significant net losses,” according to its SEC filing, with losses of $1.7 million and $62.3 million at the end of 2020 and 2021, respectively. It had primarily funded its operations through personal payments by the company’s executive chairman and founder, and though contracts with contingent payment plans, the filing states.
At the time of the announcement, Ocean Biomedical offered 2 million shares of common stock at an anticipated price of $10-$12 per share.
The company was founded by Dr. Jack Elias, former dean of Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School; Dr. Jake Kurtis, chairman of pathology and laboratory medicine at Brown and digital health entrepreneur Chirinjeev Kathuria.
The company describes itself as a “medical research innovation incubator,” working to find new therapies through building partnerships between researchers and institutions, and through dispersing funding and expertise. Ocean Biomedical has previously worked on finding treatments for cancer, fibrosis, infectious disease and inflammation.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
