aibioAptevo completes CEO transition and secures $60 million equity line
Tickers APVO
Aptevo says its RAINIER trial of mipletamig remains on track for Phase 2 dose selection by year end, and that a $60 million standby equity purchase agreement extends its access to capital.
Key facts
- Company
- Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: APVO)
- News type
- Company Updates
- Primary source
- Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. SEC filing (Form 8-K)
Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: APVO) gave a business update on May 13, 2026. In the press release filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 8-K, the company covered a completed change in executive leadership, a $60 million equity line of credit, and the status of its RAINIER trial of mipletamig in frontline acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Aptevo said the trial remains on track for completion and Phase 2 dose selection by year end.
Leadership and financing
Jeff Lamothe was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, while Marvin White moved to the role of Executive Chair. The company said the planned transition is designed to support its next phase of growth, with continuity in strategy and a focus on clinical development, capital strategy and long-term value creation. Lamothe said: "Aptevo is entering a defining period as a company, supported by growing clinical momentum, a committed leadership team, and a pipeline with the potential to create significant long-term value."
During the quarter, Aptevo secured a $60 million standby equity purchase agreement (SEPA) with Yorkville. The company said the facility extends access to capital through achievement of key catalysts into 2029. During the first quarter of 2026, Aptevo raised $0.9 million, net, under its Standby Equity Purchase Agreements with Yorkville. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $14.5 million as of March 31, 2026. The $60 million is a ceiling on what the company may sell to Yorkville, not cash in hand, and each sale of shares dilutes current holders. Only $0.9 million net was raised in the quarter, and the company's 2025 cash use was $25.6 million.
The RAINIER data
RAINIER is a two-part Phase 1b/2 trial of mipletamig, a CD123xCD3 T cell engager, in adults newly diagnosed with frontline AML who are not eligible for intensive induction chemotherapy. Mipletamig is given with standard venetoclax and azacitidine. Aptevo reported data across 31 evaluable patients. That count includes data through RAINIER Cohort 5 and four patients from a previously completed dose expansion trial. In that group, the company reported an 87% clinical benefit rate, an 81% CR or CRi rate and a 65% complete remission rate.
Aptevo also said that 52% of patients who achieved CR or CRi had blast reductions that reached the measurable residual disease-negative level, a result typically associated with stronger, more durable responses. The company reported no cytokine release syndrome in frontline patients to date. It set the remission figures against the Phase 3 VIALE-A trial of venetoclax plus azacitidine, which reported a composite CR/CRi rate of 66.4% and a CR rate of 37% in intent-to-treat patients ineligible for intensive induction chemotherapy (DiNardo et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 2020). The comparison is across different trials. RAINIER is an early, open-label study of 31 patients with no control arm, and the release gives no p-values, survival or duration of response, so the numbers cannot show that mipletamig adds to venetoclax plus azacitidine. The no-CRS finding is also "to date" in a small group.
Mipletamig has orphan drug designation for AML under the Orphan Drug Act.
Financial position and what comes next
The company's SEC financial data for 2025 show research and development expense of $14.5 million, up from $14.4 million in 2024. Aptevo reported a net loss of $26.0 million for 2025, compared with $24.1 million for 2024. Cash used in operations was $25.6 million for 2025 and $23.8 million for 2024. Year-end cash and cash equivalents for 2024 were $8.7 million.
Aptevo describes itself as a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing bispecific and trispecific immunotherapies for cancer. Its two clinical candidates are mipletamig and ALG.APV-527, a bispecific conditional 4-1BB agonist co-developed with Alligator Bioscience. Aptevo also has six preclinical candidates.
The company says RAINIER is on track for completion and Phase 2 dose selection by year end, which is a target, and Phase 2 has not begun. Its trispecific solid tumor candidates carry no clinical data. To reach those milestones the company depends on selling stock under the equity line or raising money elsewhere.