SPACs back from brink with NK cell therapy biotech's plans for blank-check merger

After a number of high-profile special purpose acquisition company announcements toward the end of last year, these deals once again dropped off in 2023. But that doesn’t mean the low-key revival of this reverse merger model has died.

Case in point is NKGen Biotech, a natural killer (NK) cell therapy-focused company, which announced plans to go public via a merger with blank-check company Graf Acquisition Corp. IV. Santa Ana, California-based NKGen was set up in 2017 with a focus on neurodegenerative diseases and oncology and is now led by Paul Song, M.D., who took the top seat in January after moving from Fuse Biotherapeutics.