Enliven Therapeutics closes merger, $165M raise

BOULDER —  Boulder-based oncology drug developer Enliven Therapeutics Inc. has completed its merger with Boston pharmaceutical company Imara Inc., a deal that takes the combined company public.

The deal, which paves the way for the merged organization to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ELVN, is concurrent with a $165 million investment round led by Fairmount Funds and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners.

As a result of the investment, Enliven is “expected to have a cash runway through multiple clinical milestones and into early 2026,” the company said. 

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BizWest reported late last year that the combined company anticipated having about $300 million in its coffers post-merger. 

Under the merger deal, pre-merger Enliven shareholders own 84% of the combined company, and Imara’s shareholders own the remainder. 

“We are thrilled to complete this merger, which will accelerate the development of our differentiated pipeline of small molecule kinase inhibitors to address existing and emerging unmet needs in oncology,” Enliven CEO Sam Kintz said in a prepared statement. “We are thankful to have stockholder support and a well-respected syndicate of new and existing investors. With a strong financial position, growing pipeline and experienced team, we are well positioned to achieve multiple clinical milestones with our two parallel lead programs and build a leading precision oncology company.”

Prior to the merger, Imara, according to media reports, struggled with layoffs and the cancellation of development for its leading drug candidate.

“We are pleased to announce the completion of our merger with Enliven, which represents an exciting opportunity for our stockholders,” former Imara CEO Rahul Ballal said in a statement. “Enliven has built a promising clinical-stage pipeline of next-generation kinase inhibitors, and we believe in the ability of the team to deliver value to both stockholders and patients.”