Scipher and Chemomab merge in $150M deal to test AI-picked arthritis drug
What's the deal? Chemomab Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CMMB) and Scipher Medicine will combine in an all-stock merger, the companies said on July 8, 2026. The combined company, valued at $150 million, will operate as Scipher Medicine Corporation and trade on Nasdaq under the ticker "SCIP."
What's the endgame? The merged company will focus on advancing nebokitug, a first-in-class anti-CCL24 antibody, into a Phase 2 trial for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Scipher's AI Network Medicine platform identified CCL24 as a top-ranked therapeutic target for RA and produced a response signature intended to select patients most likely to benefit.
Nebokitug blocks the chemokine CCL24 in a dual-acting mechanism targeting both inflammation and fibrosis. It has already shown a favourable safety profile and biomarker improvements in an earlier Phase 2 trial.
Why now? Chief executive officer Dr Reginald Seeto noted the gap in RA treatment: "there have been no new novel mechanisms approved in RA by the FDA since 2012, and no new branded FDA approvals in RA since 2019." Scipher's PrismRA is the only test approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for predicting RA treatment response.
The money: A syndicate of current Scipher investors, led by Northpond VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → with Khosla Ventures, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, and funds managed by Neuberger, committed roughly $30 million in a concurrent private placement. The combined company's cash is expected to fund operations into H2 2028.
What changes? Dr Seeto will lead the combined company. Chemomab co-founder and chief executive officer Adi Mor will join its board of directors. Alongside nebokitug, the company retains Scipher's revenue-generating businesses, including biopharma partnerships, an immunology data business, and the PrismRA commercial test.
What could go wrong? The strategy hinges on the Phase 2 RA trial, with a topline readout expected in H1 2028. That single data point is the key inflection point — and the cash runway runs only into H2 2028.
The signal: The deal pairs a clinical-stage drug with an AI platform used to pick its target and its patients, testing whether precision medicine can revive a therapeutic area that has stalled for over a decade.
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