# Alaunos Completes Velaris Acquisition With $350 Million Financing

By John Kim

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/business/31265
Published: 2026-10-13T15:06:30.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-13T15:06:30.000Z
Section: Business

> The deal adds a pulmonary arterial hypertension pipeline as Alaunos targets operations through 2029 and expects proof-of-concept data for VLR199 in 2028.

Alaunos Therapeutics completed its acquisition of privately held Velaris Therapeutics on Oct. 13, gaining a pulmonary arterial hypertension pipeline as a concurrent private placement raised about $350 million before expenses.

The financing is expected to fund operations into 2029, support proof-of-concept datasets for VLR199 and VLR360, and advance initial regulatory filings for VLR247 and VLR258.

Velaris’ programs target pulmonary arterial hypertension and related cardiopulmonary diseases, including secondary pulmonary hypertension associated with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and interstitial lung disease.

The pipeline includes VLR199, an ActRIIA-Fc ligand trap; VLR247, an ActRIIA-based ligand trap; VLR258, an ActRIIB-based ligand trap; and VLR360, an anti-PDGF-B monoclonal antibody. The company said VLR247 and VLR258 were engineered to spare BMP-9 and BMP-10, whose activity it linked to hematologic adverse events.

Alaunos expects clinical proof-of-concept data for VLR199 in 2028. CEO and chairman Holger Weis described the transaction and financing as providing “a strong financial foundation.” Michael Henderson, M.D., president of Velaris, said, “We aim to transform the treatment of pulmonary hypertension, starting with PAH.”

After the transactions, Alaunos expects to have approximately 358.59 million common shares on an as-converted basis, excluding beneficial ownership limits and any reverse stock split. The financing terms did not include a disclosed private-placement price, preferred-share count or conversion terms.

Peter Harwin, Fairmount’s founding partner, will join Alaunos’ board. Subject to stockholder approval of the preferred-stock conversion, three current directors are expected to resign and three Fairmount-designated directors are expected to be appointed.

Alaunos’ board and Velaris’ board and stockholders approved the transaction. Alaunos stockholder approval was not required for closing.

On Oct. 9, Nasdaq notified Alaunos that its securities were subject to delisting over a stockholders’ equity requirement. Alaunos planned to request a hearing. The company had approximately $120,000 in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30 and also has ALN1003, an oral small-molecule candidate for obesity and metabolic disorders.

The next governance step is stockholder consideration of the preferred-stock conversion, which would allow the planned board changes to proceed.