💥New Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing - Molecular Templates Inc.💥
Biotech find solace in chapter 11 after multiple failed attempts at a sale
On April 20, 2025, Massachusetts-based Molecular Templates Inc. and Molecular Templates Opco Inc. (together, the “debtors”) filed chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the District of Delaware (Judge Shannon) annnnnnnd as soon as the matter hit the docket Johnny be like:
Man we hate biotech cases over here.
Look, we aren’t going to pretend we know the entirety of the science here, but, in a nutshell, the debtors are focused on developing specialized therapeutics using a “next-generation biological platform” called “engineered toxin bodies” (“ETBs”). From what we can gather from the bankruptcy papers (no, we did not give enough of a sh*t to dig through years of SEC filings), the process involves a genetically engineered bacterial protein that is designed to enter cancer cells and shut down the cells’ ability to synthesize protein.
Sounds promising, yeah? Well, some people certainly thought so.
The debtors raised $60mm in net proceeds through a series of private placements in ‘17 and, at the same time, also went public through a reverse merger with Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Subsequently, the debtors went on to secure another $18.4mm in July ‘23 and $8.8mm in March ‘24 — both also from private placements. And on the debt side, the debtors entered into a $35mm loan with K2 HealthVentures LLC (“K2”) in May ‘20.*
Unfortunately all of that cash still wasn’t enough to push any of the debtors’ pipelines through the clinical phase and so the debtors started to explore strategic alternatives in March ‘23. This included quite the merry-go-round of investment bankers who desperately tried to find potential buyers.
First up to bat was Stifel Nicolaus & Company Inc. (“Stifel”), which commenced a 12-month-long(!) sale and marketing process that yielded exactly f*ck all worth of interest (far as we can tell).
