Vital Therapies, Inc. and Immunic AG (Immunic), a private clinical-stage biotechnology company in Planegg-Martinsried, Germany, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Vital Therapies is expected to acquire all of the outstanding shares in Immunic in exchange for newly issued shares of Vital Therapies in an all-stock transaction. The company will focus on advancing Immunic's pipeline of novel and potentially transformative treatments for chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Upon closing of the transaction, the company is expected to operate under the name Immunic, Inc. and trade on the NASDAQ Global Market. The company will be led by Daniel Vitt, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and President of Immunic, and will be headquartered in Boston, MA, USA. The board of directors is expected to be composed of five members, including four members of the current Immunic board, Daniel Vitt, Ph.D., CEO of Immunic, Joerg Neermann, Ph.D., Life Science Partners, Vincent Ossipow, Ph.D., CFA, Omega Funds, Jan von den Bossche, Fund+, and Vital Therapies™ current President and member of the management team, Duane Nash, MD, JD, MBA.
Immunic, Inc. is a biotechnology company. The Company is focused on developing a clinical pipeline of orally administered, small molecule therapies for chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The Companyâs s lead development program, vidofludimus calcium (IMU-838), is in phase III and phase II clinical trials for the treatment of relapsing and progressive multiple sclerosis, respectively, and has shown therapeutic activity in phase II clinical trials in patients suffering from relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, progressive multiple sclerosis, and moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis. IMU-856, which targets the protein Sirtuin 6 (SIRT6), is intended to restore intestinal barrier function and regenerate bowel epithelium, which could potentially be applicable in numerous gastrointestinal diseases, such as celiac disease. IMU-381 is in preclinical testing, a next generation molecule being developed to specifically address the needs of gastrointestinal diseases.
IMMUNIC, INC. 
