New York, May 19, 2026, 12:06 EDT
InMed Pharmaceuticals shares jumped over 100% in busy Nasdaq trading Tuesday. The Vancouver drug developer said it will merge with private Mentari Therapeutics in an all-stock deal, aiming to bring the public company into migraine prevention therapies.
The stock jumped 108.6% to $1.42 in the latest trade after reaching an intraday high of $2.04. Volume was heavy—about 69.6 million shares traded, much higher than usual for the microcap biotech. The company’s market value was close to $5.7 million.
Why it matters now: This deal looks more like a restart than a simple add-on. InMed said the merged company will be called Mentari Therapeutics, with shares set to trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market under a new ticker. The combination will be supported by an overfilled $290 million private placement—so shares are being sold to select investors, not through a public offering.
Pre-merger InMed shareholders are looking at a roughly 1.51% stake in the merged company under the proposed deal. The pro forma equity value comes in at about $421.4 million, which includes the private placement.
InMed CEO Eric A. Adams told investors the board has been looking at strategic options and decided the Mentari merger offered the “highest potential value creation opportunity” for shareholders. Mentari Chair Julianne Bruno said the deal gives Mentari “capital and public market infrastructure” to advance its migraine programs.
Mentari’s main drugs are MT-001, which is an anti-PACAP antibody, and MT-002, a bispecific antibody that targets both CGRP and PACAP. Both CGRP and PACAP are signaling proteins linked to migraine, and the idea is that blocking them should cut how often or how bad migraines are. The companies see a first-in-human regulatory filing for MT-001 around mid-2026. For MT-002, they are targeting the first quarter of 2027.
InMed’s business has been contracting. The company posted a $3.0 million net loss for the quarter ending March 31 and reported $5.2 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments earlier this month. Its BayMedica commercial operations are being wound down, the company said.
InMed said Tuesday it changed preferred investment options held by Armistice Capital Master Fund, lowering the exercise price to $0.80 from $16.60 for options on up to 278,761 common shares. The company said there’s no guarantee these options will be exercised.
AbbVie’s Qulipta, also sold as Aquipta in Europe, pulled in $658 million in international sales last year, Reuters said in June 2025. Teva’s Ajovy is another player in the CGRP migraine prevention space, up against Amgen’s Aimovig and Eli Lilly’s Emgality.
Mentari’s story is straightforward: today’s CGRP drugs have helped migraine prevention, but a lot of patients aren’t getting enough relief. InMed and Mentari said between 40% and 50% of people taking approved drugs don’t get a 50% reduction in monthly migraine days, which is a standard measure in migraine studies.
The deal isn’t final yet. It still needs shareholder sign-off, SEC effectiveness on a registration statement, and various closing terms. The private placement also has to close. The drug candidates are still experimental, and there’s no guarantee of clinical or regulatory success.
Traders see the announcement as a big shift for InMed’s risk. The old InMed was a microcap burning cash and working on cannabinoid-linked assets. The new plan would turn it into a funded migraine drug developer. It’s early and risky, but the company gets a bigger look on paper.
