AnaptysBio board approves First Tracks spin-off, set to launch with $180 million

AnaptysBio, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANAB) said on March 27, 2026 that its board approved the spin-off of First Tracks Biotherapeutics, Inc., which will trade as First Tracks Bio under the Nasdaq ticker TRAX. AnaptysBio stockholders will receive one First Tracks Bio share for every AnaptysBio share they hold on the expected record date of April 6, 2026. The distribution is expected on April 20, 2026, before the market opens. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, the release says the distribution is expected to be a taxable transaction for AnaptysBio. When-issued trading is expected to begin on or about April 6, and AnaptysBio will keep trading as ANAB.

The distribution is subject to conditions described in First Tracks Bio's Form 10 registration statement. Stockholders need not take any action or pay anything to receive the shares.

The money

First Tracks Bio will launch with $180 million in cash and what the release calls an initial two-year cash runway. Of that, $100 million comes from AnaptysBio and $80 million is gross proceeds from what the release calls an oversubscribed private placement. Investors named include 683 Capital Partners, LP, Adage Capital Partners, L.P., Janus Henderson Investors, Point72 and Woodline Partners LP, along with other institutional investors. The release names no placement agent for that placement. It names only Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, as legal adviser to AnaptysBio on the transaction.

AnaptysBio's own annual report, filed March 3, 2026, shows revenue of $234.6 million for 2025, up from $91.3 million for 2024. It reports cash provided by operations of $19.7 million in 2025, against cash used in operations of $135.3 million in 2024. At the end of 2024 the company held $123.1 million in cash and cash equivalents and $262.3 million in short-term investments. The $100 million going to the new company is more than the operating cash the report shows for 2025.

What stays behind

The release says the separation positions AnaptysBio "to remain focused on managing and protecting our royalty streams." It does not list those royalty streams or give their size. It also says AnaptysBio will continue to operate as a standalone company after the spin-off.

Daniel Faga will be president and chief executive of First Tracks Bio and will also remain AnaptysBio's chief executive. Paul Lizzul, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer, and Ben Stone, chief business officer, will join First Tracks Bio's leadership from AnaptysBio. The release also announces the expected appointment of Ajim Tamboli as chief financial officer of First Tracks Bio, and describes him as having more than 25 years of experience in life sciences as an investor and equity research analyst. That appointment is expected, not completed.

The pipeline being spun off

First Tracks Bio describes itself as a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing antibody therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The release names three initial lead assets. ANB033, a CD122 antagonist, is in a Phase 1b trial for celiac disease and eosinophilic esophagitis. Rosnilimab, a pathogenic T cell depleter, has completed a Phase 2b trial in rheumatoid arthritis. ANB101, a BDCA2 modulator, is in a Phase 1a trial.

The release gives no results for rosnilimab's completed Phase 2b trial, and none for ANB033 or ANB101. It calls the pipeline "potentially best-in-class," but its own forward-looking statements list whether any of First Tracks Bio's product candidates will be best in class as an uncertainty. Those statements also name the timing and results of clinical trials and the company's ability to fund development.

What comes next

The record date is April 6, 2026, the distribution is expected on April 20, 2026, and First Tracks Bio's trading is expected to begin the same day. Until then the Form 10 conditions and the expected CFO appointment remain open. The release gives no figure for the cost of the separation.

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ANABAnaptysBio, Inc.NASDAQ · United StatesOpen the starter deskTRAXFirst Tracks Biotherapeutics, Inc.NASDAQ · United StatesOpen the starter desk