GlycoMimetics enters acquisition agreement with Crescent Biopharma

GlycoMimetics (GLYC) announced it has entered into an acquisition agreement with Crescent Biopharma, a privately held biotechnology company. Upon completion of the transaction, the company plans to operate under the name Crescent Biopharma. In support of the acquisition, a syndicate of investors led by Fairmount, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, BVF Partners, and a large investment management firm, with participation from Paradigm BioCapital, RTW Investments, Blackstone Multi-Asset Investing, Frazier Life Sciences, Commodore Capital, Perceptive Advisers, Deep Track Capital, Boxer Capital Management, Soleus, Logos Capital, Driehaus Capital Management, Braidwell LP, and Wellington Management, has committed $200M to purchase GlycoMimetics common stock and GlycoMimetics pre-funded warrants to purchase its common stock. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025. The financing is expected to close immediately following the completion of the transaction. The company’s cash balance at closing is anticipated to fund operations through 2027, including advancement of the company’s lead program CR-001, a tetravalent PD-1 x VEGF bispecific antibody, through preliminary proof of concept clinical data in solid tumor patients expected in the second half of 2026. Crescent is the fifth company to launch with assets discovered and developed by Paragon Therapeutics. CR-001, a tetravalent PD-1 x VEGF bispecific antibody, matches the format and pharmacology of ivonescimab, which delivered efficacy compared to the current market leader pembrolizumab in a large third party Phase 3 trial. In addition to CR-001, Crescent is developing CR-002 and CR-003, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) against undisclosed targets using topoisomerase inhibitor payloads; ADCs with topoisomerase inhibitor payloads have shown improved efficacy and safety compared to ADCs with alternative payloads. The Company anticipates that the IND for CR-001 will be filed in 4Q25 or 1Q26, and interim Phase 1 data from patients is expected in 2H26. CR-002, Crescent’s first ADC program is expected to initiate Phase 1 in 2026; the company plans to disclose the target for CR-002 as the program approaches the clinic. The company intends to determine potential paths forward for its late-stage clinical candidate, Uproleselan, including by supporting continued data analyses of Uproleselan from NCI, its corporate partner for China, Apollomics, and investigator-initiated studies. Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, the pre-acquisition GlycoMimetics stockholders are expected to own approximately 3.1% of the combined company and the pre-acquisition Crescent stockholders are expected to own approximately 96.9% of the company. The percentage of the company that GlycoMimetics’s stockholders will own as of the closing of the acquisition is subject to adjustment based on the amount of GlycoMimetics’s net cash at the closing date. The transaction has received approval by the board of directors of both companies and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025, subject to certain closing conditions, including, among other things, approval by the stockholders of each company and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The company will be named Crescent Biopharma and be led by Jonathan Violin, Crescent’s interim CEO who will be joined on Crescent’s board of directors by Peter Harwin, Managing Member of Fairmount.