AcelRx acquires Tetraphase and with it Xerava a treatment for life threatening infections

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company focused on commercializing its novel tetracycline Xerava to treat serious and life-threatening infections, announced the execution of a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which AcelRx Pharmaceuticals would acquire Tetraphase in a stock for stock transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, Tetraphase stockholders will receive, for each share of Tetraphase common stock, 0.6303 of a share of AcelRx common stock, valued at approximately $14.4 million as of the close of trading on March 13, 2020, and one contingent value right (CVR), which would entitle the holders to receive aggregate payments of up to $12.5 million for the achievement of future Xerava net sales milestones starting in 2021. The transaction was unanimously approved by both the AcelRx and Tetraphase boards of directors and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020. Concurrently with signing the merger agreement, Tetraphase and AcelRx entered into a co-promotion agreement to market and promote Xerava for the treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI) and Dsuvia for the treatment of acute pain in medically supervised settings. The co-promotion agreement will allow the AcelRx and Tetraphase teams to benefit immediately from the promotion of multiple products, leverage each company’s customer relationships, and create efficiencies among commercial teams. The combined sales team will cover in excess of 70% of each company’s originally targeted hospitals. Tetraphase will become a privately held company and shares of Tetraphase’s common stock will no longer be listed on any public market.