Biotech’s fundraising and M&A bonanza continues to boost the specialist funds invested in this exciting growth industry.
One healthcare trust benefiting from the boom is RTW Biotech Opportunities (LON:RTW). The London-listed fund has announced that private portfolio holding Avere Therapeutics is to merge with publicly-listed NextCure (NASDAQ:NXTC).
Avere is the fourth private portfolio company RTW Bio has brought to the public markets by way of a reverse merger in 2026. The other three firms are Yarrow Bioscience (NASDAQ:YARW), Obsidian Therapeutics and Serapha Bio.
RTW Biotech delivers fourth reverse merger
The all-share reverse merger is expected to complete by year-end. And the combined company will trade as Avere Therapeutics (AVRX).
London-listed RTW Bio has invested a total of $5.9 million in two private placements by Avere. As of 30 June, following the funding of the first $320 million private placement, Avere represented 0.3% of the trust’s net asset value (NAV).
The proceeds will fund the development of Avere’s oral therapies to treat inflammatory diseases.
Investing through the cycle
RTW Bio’s manager Rod Wong explained: ‘Avere is a strong example of how we invest across the full life cycle. We are excited to back Andrew Cheng and his team again.’
He added: ‘Avere is the fourth reverse merger announced from RTW Bio’s portfolio this year, a capability we have built to take private companies public efficiently.’
For risk-tolerant investors, the Rod Wong-managed trust is a great way to tap into the biotechnology boom. RTW Bio is differentiated from most biotech or healthcare funds due to its dedicated focus on finding ‘transformative’ technologies.
Furthermore, Wong and his team have a track record of backing proven operators in the biotech patch.
Avere is headed up by the team that led previous RTW Bio portfolio company Akero from pre-IPO through its $5.2 billion sale to Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO). The position contributed 3.9% to RTW Bio’s NAV in 2025.
Shares in RTW Bio have enjoyed a good run since we recommended them at $1.96 in March. However, they still offer value on a 10% discount to NAV. So long as an adverse interest rate environment doesn’t derail the biotech recovery, RTW Bio looks well positioned to continue generating healthy returns.
