HOUSTON and CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — November 13, 2025 — Leads & Copy — Salarius Pharmaceuticals and Decoy Therapeutics have completed their strategic merger, focusing on advancing Decoy’s peptide conjugate therapeutics pipeline, engineered via its IMP3ACT platform, which aims to reduce the complexity of drug development and manufacturing.
The combined company reports a pro forma cash balance of $14 million, which includes funds from a recent public offering. Frederick “Rick” Pierce, formerly CEO of Decoy and now CEO of Salarius, expressed gratitude to both teams for completing the transaction, which supports the advancement of next-generation therapeutics through the IMP3ACT platform.
Pierce highlighted the platform’s use of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and high-speed synthesis to rapidly design, engineer, and manufacture peptide conjugate drug candidates, targeting unmet medical needs. Innovations in manufacturing are intended to allow for faster therapy development, from lab to clinic to commercialization.
Decoy’s technology has previously attracted financing from institutional investors, as well as non-dilutive capital from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Seed Fund, the Google AI startup program, and the NVIDIA Inception program. Decoy has also received QuickFire Challenge award funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) via BLUE KNIGHT™, a collaboration between Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS and BARDA.
Over the next year, Decoy plans to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its lead asset, a pan-coronavirus antiviral. Progress is also expected on other programs, such as a broad-acting antiviral for flu, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and a peptide drug conjugate targeting GI cancers.
The newly merged company will be renamed Decoy Therapeutics. The leadership team includes Barbara Hibner (Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer), Peter Marschel (Chief Business Officer), Mike Lipp (Chief Technology Officer), and Shahin Gharakhanian, M.D. (acting Chief Medical Officer and Scientific Advisory Board Chair). Mark Rosenblum, Salarius’ current Chief Financial Officer and former acting Chief Executive Officer, will continue as Chief Financial Officer.
Under the terms of the Merger Agreement, Salarius issued 877.709 shares of Series A Preferred Stock and 796.306 shares of Series B Preferred Stock to former Decoy stockholders and debtholders, reserving 45.098 shares of Series A Preferred Stock for assumed in-the-money Decoy options and warrants. The underlying common shares are 4,814,106, pending stockholder approval for conversion and Nasdaq listing approval. A special stockholder meeting will be called to approve the conversion of the Preferred Stock.
Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. served as the exclusive financial advisor to Decoy and sole bookrunning manager for Salarius’ recent public offering. Nason Yeager Gerson Harris & Fumero, P.A. was legal counsel to Decoy, while Honigman LLP advised Salarius on the merger, and Hogan Lovells US LLP advised on the concurrent financing.
Alliance Advisors IR
Jody Cain
jcain@allianceadvisors.com
310-691-7100
Source: Salarius Pharmaceuticals
Source: Salarius Pharmaceuticals
