Citius Pharmaceuticals has concluded the merger of its wholly-owned oncology subsidiary with TenX Keane Acquisition, forming the new entity Citius Oncology.

The merger, which was announced in October 2023, is set to take the newly combined company public, trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol CTOR.

Following closure, all shares of Citius Pharma's subsidiary were converted into rights to receive common stock of Citius Oncology, with Citius Pharma retaining 90% ownership of the new public company.

Additionally, Citius Oncology will assume an existing 12.75 million options.

The company will continue to operate under a shared services agreement with Citius Pharma.

Citius Oncology will focus on developing and commercialising new targeted oncology therapies.

Its primary asset, LYMPHIR, recently received US Food and Drug Administration approval for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) who have undergone a minimum of one previous systemic therapy.

Management of the company has estimated the initial market for LYMPHIR to exceed $400m.

The company also has robust intellectual property protections, which include complex technology, orphan drug designation, trade secrets and pending patents for immuno-oncology applications as a combination therapy with checkpoint inhibitors.

Citius Pharma and Citius Oncology chairman and CEO Leonard Mazur stated: “With this transaction, we look forward to launching LYMPHIR, facilitating future growth initiatives, and exploring additional potential oncology assets. It is our intention to distribute a portion of our shares of Citius Oncology to Citius Pharma shareholders in the future.

“This transaction also enables Citius Pharma to focus on growing and unlocking the value of other assets in its portfolio, including our novel Mino-Lok antibiotic lock solution which recently achieved primary and secondary endpoints in a Phase III trial and is now another step closer to entering a $1.8bn market.”