The international biotech firm, LianBio, announced on Tuesday that its board has officially decided to begin the process of ceasing operations, which include selling the remaining assets in the pipeline, delisting its American Depository Shares (ADSs) from the Nasdaq market, deregistering under the SEC Act, and implementing workforce reductions.
The company expects a significant part of this process to be fully executed by the end of 2024, with full dissolution planned for the first half of 2027.
Furthermore, LianBio announced a special cash dividend of $4.80 per share, amounting to approximately $528 million. This will be dispensed to the shareholders on the record as of February 27. Regular shareholders are expected to receive their payments around March 11, while ADS holders will be paid on March 14.
The company revealed plans for downsizing its workforce by roughly 50 percent, affecting more than 50 full-time employees in the first quarter of 2024. This will be followed by additional job cuts throughout 2024.
The company confirmed that its voluntary departure from the stock market should go into effect around March 18.
The Founder and Executive Chairman of LianBio's Board, Konstantin Poukalov, commented, "In the wake of our shift in focus away from the commercialization of mavacamten and licensing our rights to NBTXR3 to Janssen, the board unanimously agreed that ceasing operations would be the best way to maximize shareholder value in the current biotech market context."
In response to this announcement, LianBio's stock increased by 17.57 percent, rising to $4.75 from the previous close of $4.14 on the Nasdaq in the pre-market trading.
