Cempra: Melinta Therapeutics Announces Successful Completion of Merger

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Nov. 06, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Melinta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:MLNT), a commercial-stage company developing and commercializing novel antibiotics to treat serious bacterial infections, announced that the company's merger with Cempra, Inc. has closed. Melinta Therapeutics will commence trading on November 6, 2017 on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "MLNT."Melinta previously announced that Dan Wechsler has been appointed as Melinta's new president and chief executive officer. In addition to Mr. Wechsler, the company's executive leadership team is comprised of seven executives from Melinta and two executives from Cempra. Biographies for the management team may be found on the Melinta website."The successful closing of our merger with Cempra is very exciting, as it positions us with significant capital to advance our clinical and commercial efforts for our flagship product, Baxdela®, as well as drive forward our extensive pipeline of anti-infective products," stated Mr. Wechsler. "It is a privilege to be part of Melinta and I look forward to building on the mission to discover, develop, and market life-saving antibiotics to physicians and the patients they serve."Concurrent with the closing of the merger, Melinta also announced that the company's board of directors will be chaired by Kevin Ferro, co-founder of Vatera Healthcare Partners. The board will also be comprised of former board members from Melinta and Cempra as well as the addition of Jay Galeota, a pharmaceutical veteran who has held diverse key leadership positions including chief strategy and business development officer and president, emerging businesses at Merck & Co. Inc., and who is currently the president and chief operating officer of G&W Laboratories, Inc. Mr. Wechsler will also be appointed to the board. His appointment will be effective ten days following the filing of a supplemental Information Statement on Schedule 14f-1 relating to Mr. Wechsler. Biographies for the board members are listed on the Melinta website.After giving effect to the merger, pre-closing Melinta stockholders owned, on a fully-diluted basis as calculated under the treasury stock method, approximately 51.6% of the company's common stock and pre-closing Cempra stockholders owned approximately 48.4% of the company's common stock.In connection with Mr. Wechsler's appointment, Melinta's independent directors approved an inducement award pursuant to Rule 5635 of the NASDAQ Listing Rules to Mr. Wechsler. The inducement award consists of the grant of a stock option to purchase up to 550,981 shares of Melinta's common stock at an exercise price equal to Friday's closing price of the Melinta's common stock, and the grant of restricted stock units for 183,661 shares of Melinta's common stock. The stock option and restricted stock unit grants will become twenty-five percent vested on November 3, 2018, with the remaining shares vesting in equal monthly installments ...Full story available on Benzinga.com