Bolt Biotherapeutics acquires Prana Therapies, raises $120 million in private placement

Bolt Biotherapeutics, Inc. announced on October 23, 2026 that it had acquired Prana Therapies, Inc., alongside a concurrent private placement financing. The deal took the form of a reverse merger arranged in advance, with both companies agreeing to a stock-for-stock combination.¹

The lead asset, PRA-216, is a fully human, half-life-extended bispecific antibody targeting IL-4Rα and TSLP, and the first clinical program to come out of Prana's proprietary INSPIRE platform.¹ Phase 2 trials in asthma, COPD, and atopic dermatitis are already underway, a fourth Phase 2 trial in eosinophilic esophagitis is planned, and data from all four studies are expected to start arriving in the second quarter of 2027 and continue through the fourth quarter of that year.¹

On financing, Bolt signed a securities purchase agreement for a private placement that includes $120 million in upfront gross proceeds through Series D non-voting convertible preferred stock, plus the potential for another $60 million if warrants are exercised, with a group of healthcare-focused institutional investors including Deep Track Capital, ADAR1 Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, LYFE Capital and others.¹ The company said proceeds are expected to fund operations into 2028 and support a number of clinical and preclinical milestones.¹

Ownership will shift substantially as a result of the transactions. Shareholders who held Bolt stock before the deal are expected to end up with about 6.9% of the combined company, former Prana equity holders about 51.7%, and private placement investors about 41.4%, all on a fully diluted basis.¹

Sheila Gujrathi, M.D., Prana's co-founder and former CEO, has been named Chief Strategy Officer of Bolt and has joined its board of directors.¹ The private placement is expected to close on October 26, 2026,¹ the same day Bolt plans to hold a conference call to discuss the transaction.