aibioTuHURA Biosciences completes acquisition of Kineta in all-stock deal
Tickers HURA
Each Kineta share converts into 0.185298 TuHURA shares, or 2,868,169 shares in total, with 1,129,885 more due after six months. The release gives no cash balance or loss figure.
Key facts
- Company
- TuHURA Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HURA)
- News type
- Mergers
- Primary source
- TuHURA Biosciences, Inc. 8-K (2025-06-30)
TuHURA Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: HURA) said on June 30, 2025 that it had completed its acquisition of Kineta, Inc., whose stock is quoted on the OTC Pink market as KANT. The deal brings Kineta's VISTA-blocking antibody, now renamed TBS-2025 and formerly known as KVA12123, into TuHURA's pipeline. The annual report for 2024 had said the merger was expected to close in the second quarter of 2025, subject to closing conditions that included a financing condition.
What Kineta holders receive
Each Kineta share was converted into the right to receive 0.185298 shares of TuHURA common stock, for an aggregate of 2,868,169 shares. Each Kineta share is also entitled to its pro rata portion of 1,129,885 additional TuHURA shares, to be issued six months after closing. That figure is subject to adjustment for losses incurred or accrued during those six months.
Holders also have a right to their share of cash from disposed-asset payments tied to legacy Kineta assets. The release says those payments, if any, will be made at a later date. Fractional shares will be paid in cash at $5.7528 per share.
Describing the deal as all-stock leaves out part of the picture. The annual report describes the consideration as shares of TuHURA common stock and cash. The completion release describes cash only for fractional shares and for the disposed-asset payments that may come later. Leerink Partners acted as TuHURA's exclusive financial advisor. The release names no advisor or law firm for Kineta.
The asset and the trial data
TBS-2025 is a VISTA-inhibiting monoclonal antibody that the release calls Phase 2 ready. It is given intravenously every two weeks. The release says it was tested in a dose escalation Phase 1/2 trial, both alone and with pembrolizumab, in patients with relapsed or treatment-refractory advanced solid tumors. It says TBS-2025 was well tolerated at doses up to 1,000mg, with 24 patients in the monotherapy arm and 16 in the pembrolizumab combination arm. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data showed receptor occupancy above 90% across each two-week dosing interval.
Those are small groups. The release reports tolerability and receptor occupancy, not tumor responses, so it gives no measure of whether the drug shrank tumors in those patients. TuHURA plans a Phase 2 trial in NPM1 mutated relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia, combining TBS-2025 with a menin inhibitor, starting in the second half of 2025. The company calls that study relatively inexpensive and small, and says menin inhibitors are the current standard of care in that setting.
The release also describes the company's lead product candidate, IFx-2.0, in a Phase 3 trial with Keytruda in first-line Merkel cell carcinoma. It says TuHURA has initiated that trial. The annual report, filed earlier in 2025, said the company was preparing to start it. The release gives no enrollment figure and no start date, so the status of the trial rests on the company's wording.
Money and what comes next
The release says completion unlocks the fourth tranche of funds from a $12.5 million aggregate PIPE financing announced on June 3, 2025. It does not say how much that tranche is worth or how much of the $12.5 million has been received. The release gives no cash balance, net loss or cash used in operations, and the annual report's business section gives none either. The annual report made closing subject to a financing condition, but the release does not say how that condition was met.
The share count matters for holders of TuHURA stock. The 2,868,169 shares issued at closing and the 1,129,885 shares due after six months add to the company's share count, but the release does not give TuHURA's shares outstanding before or after the deal.
The next dated items are the second-half 2025 Phase 2 start for TBS-2025, the six-month issuance and its adjustment, and the timing of any disposed-asset payments, which the release leaves open.