Salarius and Decoy Complete Merger, Form New Company To Advance IMP3ACT-Engineered Therapeutics; Accelerating Development Of Next-Gen Antiviral And Oncology Programs

Salarius Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SLRX) and Decoy Therapeutics have finalized their strategic merger, forming a unified company centered on advancing Decoy’s pipeline of peptide-conjugate therapeutics. These next-generation candidates are built using Decoy’s IMP3ACT platform, which is designed to streamline drug development and simplify manufacturing processes. The combined organization will now prioritize the development of these innovative therapies.

“I’d like to thank both the Salarius and Decoy teams for their hard work and dedication in completing this transaction, which supports the advancement of next-generation therapeutics through our proprietary IMP3ACT Platform,” said Frederick “Rick” Pierce, Chief Executive Officer of Salarius and former Chief Executive Officer of Decoy. “By combining artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and high-speed synthesis techniques, we rapidly design, engineer and manufacture peptide conjugate drug candidates that target serious unmet medical needs. Our technology and innovations in manufacturing allow for advancing new therapies from lab to clinic to commercialization with unprecedented speed. We anticipate multiple value-creating inflection points in the coming year, initially targeting unmet needs in respiratory infectious diseases and gastroenterology (GI) oncology indications.”

Before the merger, Decoy secured funding from several institutional investors and attracted major non-dilutive support, including backing from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Seed Fund, Google’s AI Startup Program, and NVIDIA’s Inception Program. Additional financial momentum came from BARDA’s BLUE KNIGHT™ initiative, run in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS, which had previously awarded Decoy QuickFire Challenge funding to accelerate its technology.

Over the next year, the company plans to progress its lead antiviral candidate, a broad pan-coronavirus therapeutic—toward an IND filing with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Development will also continue on other promising programs, including an antiviral targeting flu, COVID-19, and RSV, as well as a peptide drug conjugate for gastrointestinal cancers. The merged entity will operate under the name Decoy Therapeutics and will be led by Decoy’s original executive team, with Salarius’ Mark Rosenblum remaining as Chief Financial Officer.