In the latest reverse merger, Vienna's Arsanis serves as vehicle for X4 Pharma's Nasdaq listing

Consider this: a small biotech pins its hopes on its lead program, which for whatever reason later fails. Then comes along a private player looking for a simpler, quicker and cheaper path to a public listing, by partly or fully swallowing the battered company and providing its investors a minority share of the merged entity as something of a consolation prize. Sound familiar? It should.